The Daily Report Card: NCLB Waivers, Preschool Vouchers, And The Year In Review

In the classroom today…

Will NCLB Waivers Reverse Narrowing of the Curriculum? – Curriculum Matters – Education Week The waiver plans some states have developed to gain relief from core provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act contain a dimension that may be of keen interest to those who worry that the federal law has narrowed the curriculum. Seven of the 11 states propose to include tests in subjects beyond reading and mathematics as part of their reconfigured accountability systems, with the most popular being science assessments, but social studies and writing also are included in some cases. (blogs.edweek.org)

Finally, some credible options | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com Bauer goes on to propose creation of a voucher program that would help low-income families send their children to preschool. He also suggests a sales tax exemption on school textbooks. (Indianapolis Star)

My View: The best and worst education events in America in 2011 – Schools of Thought – CNN.com Blogs As the campaign for next year’s presidential election heats up, we can expect an accompanying debate on how to boost the academic achievement ofAmerica’s next generation of students. This issue affects our children, our teachers, our pocketbooks, and our schools. Successfully educating our children means giving parents more power over where and how their child is educated, and having policies in place that foster gains in student learning, and bring competitive pressure to bear on sluggish schools. We need to properly educate our next generation of builders, entrepreneurs, inventors, and everyone else. And this necessitates reform. Reforming our education system should allow for increased teacher accountability, greater parental choice, and system transparency. This change is not only long overdue, but we owe it our students and to ourselves. (schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com)