A lot of banter this week about this Politco article about Margaret Spellings and NCLB. Two reax: First, I didn’t see it as nearly as damming as some did. Russ Whitehurst and the NEA are down on Spellings? OK. Did you also hear that the economy is a little slow? Second, in general the Spellings position is still holding the high ground here. You may have noticed that the law hasn’t been “repealed” or reauthorized or really radically changed yet. And underneath all the chattering there is a quiet consensus among some key players that current law – with all its problems – is preferable to a law that only focuses on 5 percent of the schools or otherwise throws disadvantaged kids in suburban schools under the bus. That could all change, this is political after all, but right now to assume that the Spellings position is completely out of alignment is to misread the landscape.
A little more micro on one piece of this: Kristina Rizga takes a look at testing in California in Mojo.