Congressman Castle??just said??that national standards and assessments are "worthy of discussion." This is big news; few Republicans have been so open about considering supporting national standards. He worries that too many state standards are "dumbed down" and that encourages schools to "coast along."
He addressed other ideas for NCLB reauthorization, including implementing a growth model, allowing computer-adaptive assessments, ensuring standardized graduation rates, encouraging merit pay and charter schools, supporting Teach For America and other routes to alternative certification, funding education research, and especially promoting parental involvement. "If there's one thing I could do, it would be to uplift our culture" to focus more on education.
