Dr. Sandra Stotsky sent me an email about attempts to reauthorize and “fix” No Child Left Behind/Elementary and Secondary Education Act. To summarize what she said… “don’t do it” because Common Core is built into the bill being considered.
Her message to our readers:
The bill builds in Common Core in a clever way–by putting the “Plan” for academic content standards in each state in the hands of its DoE. Moreover, not only does it put control of the “Plan” into a state’s department of education, it also excludes development and review of the “Plan” by academic experts at the college level. Very clever language contributed probably by Fordham.
“which peer review teams shall reflect a balanced representation of individuals who—
(I) have practical experience in the classroom, school administration, or State or local government; and
(II) have been a direct employee of a school, local educational agency, or State educational agency…”
People who care about the security and defense of this country should Google Rep. John Kline and Sen. Lamar Alexander in order to send a direct e-mail to them on their websites, and tell them that they don’t want any bill re-authorizing ESEA at all. They want ESEA sunsetted after extensive national public discussion of how to educate low-income children without damaging them further and all of public education K-20 at the same time.
Also a note… U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander has asked for public feedback. You can provide that feedback by emailing fixingnclb@help.senate.gov.