Now that there's a Secretary-Designate for the Department of Education, we at Fordham are ready with some advice for him. Today we are releasing an "open letter" to the Obama Administration and the incoming Congress about federal policymaking in the years to come. It's our first official statement on No Child Left Behind (and a few other federal efforts) in several years, and it introduces a new "camp" to the debate: Reform Realists . We think that Arne Duncan just might be a "reform realist" himself. (Of course, everyone thinks Arne Duncan is one of their own , so why should we be any different?)
In the letter, we review the current education policy landscape and its main players, and offer our view of the ideal K-12 federal role. We also address the ten big policy battles that are looming on the horizon. In summary, we think that the various education associations, interest groups, experts and think tanks can be broken down into three major groups with distinct agendas:
- The System Defenders . This camp believes that the public education system is fundamentally sound but needs additional resources in order to be more effective.
- The Army of the Potomac. This camp holds generally sound instincts about reform, but suffers from a boundless faith in Washington's ability to accomplish significant positive change in K-12 education.
- The Local Controllers . This camp wants Uncle Sam, for the most part, to butt out of K-12 education-but to keep sending money.
We support a fourth approach, which we call Reform Realism . On the ideological spectrum, it would fit between the NCLB supporters in the center (The Army of the Potomac) and the Local Controllers on the right. But we actually believe that it might serve as a Grand Compromise between all the factions (including the System Defenders on the left).
Read the letter to learn more, and watch for today's Gadfly , where we'll spell out our argument that Reform Realism is a path Arne Duncan should pursue.
Update: The National Review's Pete Wehner weighs in on Reform Realism on The Corner .
