While the name "No Child Left Behind" might be history, the law's animating principles are here to stay. So it appears from Secretary Arne Duncan's recent policy letter. Note this passage:
I am writing with regard to the Title I regulations that were issued by my predecessor in October 2008... I have heard various comments on these regulations from a number of interested parties - some supporting the regulations and others urging me to repeal them. I have carefully reviewed each of the October 2008 Title I regulations with these comments in mind. I am also mindful of the fact that it is important to balance the need to plan for the reauthorization of the ESEA with the need to review existing regulations. On the whole, these regulations support the educational goals for which I will advocate as Secretary: greater transparency, particularly for parents; flexibility in return for accountability; improved assessment and data systems to better track the growth of students and improve instruction; and increased focus on high school graduation. I have decided to propose changes in a few of the regulations, while leaving the majority of these regulations in effect. (Boldface added.)
For the better part of three years, Rick Hess and I have been writing about the "Washington Consensus" in education. That consensus has been in place among policy elites in Washington (though not outside of Washington, and certainly not within the education community writ large) since at least the late Clinton Administration.??This consensus??includes??a commitment to narrowing achievement gaps,??allowing "no excuses" for schools not to get all of their kids to proficiency in reading and math, and a focus on test-based accountability. There's been plenty of speculation about whether that consensus would survive under President Obama. Now we've got our answer.
