Obama Has Right Idea on Education

At least 28 more plan to seek one

(NEWSER) - Ten of the first 11 states to apply for a waiver from the controversial No Child Left Behind law will be freed from the law's requirements by President Obama today, the AP reports. Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee received the waivers; New Mexico's application was not approved, but it is working with the White House to get the OK. Another 28 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are expected to seek waivers in the future; the heavily populated states of California, Pennsylvania, and Texas are among those that have not yet signaled they will apply. More»

The president is taking political risks for the right reasons

(NEWSER) - President Obama ought to be applauded for pushing eduction reform, despite political risks. Obama's agenda is based on two ideas: That failing schools should face consequences and that teachers and principals ought to be evaluated based on student results. Each principle could benefit the system, writes Michael Gerson for the Washington Post . But both are politically dangerous. More»

(NEWSER) - Arne Duncan isn’t quite the miracle worker Barack Obama made him out to be, according to a new study from a Chicago civic group. When Obama introduced his nominee for education secretary, he boasted that Duncan had boosted elementary school test results “From 38% of students meeting the standards to 67%” as head of Chicago’s public schools. But after adjusting for changes in test scoring and procedures, the rate actually grew a mere 8%, the study found. More»

Senator may be caving to old guard where he'd been breath of fresh air

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has been backing off post-partisan rhetoric on education, looking more like a stick-in-the-mud Democratic regular on schools and less like the reformer who supported test-based accountability and performance pay for teachers. The Chicagoan had bucked teachers' unions and other stodgy liberals, supporting charter schools in Illinois and mentorship programs in Washington, Josh Patashnik writes in the New Republic. More»

That explains why he's doing so well in spite of everything: David Brooks

(NEWSER) - Why is the race between President Obama and Mitt Romney so close? In the New York Times , David Brooks cites a number of polls that seem to indicate Obama shouldn’t even be in the game: Americans have little faith in the economy, the country is shifting to the right, the president’s main policy initiative—ObamaCare—is quite unpopular. Yet his approval numbers are relatively high: “Obama is far more popular than his policies,” Brooks writes. More»