• Obama administration has unveiled its blueprint for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

• …the proposal rolled out March 13 already has two key detractors: The National Education Association, a 3.2 million-member union, and the American Federation of Teachers, a 1.4 million-member union

• …the proposal “still relies on standardized tests to identify winners and losers”

• “Districts and states weren’t a part of the previous law; they would be under our proposal,” said Mr. Duncan, apparently referring to language in the blueprint saying that states and districts would be subject to consequences and rewards, as are schools.
• The administration contends that its long-awaited proposal is aimed at fixing the “flawed” NCLB law to make it more flexible for states, while encouraging them to set higher standards for students.
• Under the blueprint … the NCLB deadline for bringing all students to proficiency by the 2013-14 school year—deemed unrealistic by many critics—would be replaced with a goal of ensuring that all students are ready for college or a career by 2020.

• Schools that are high-performers would be rewarded with recognition, additional dollars, and funding flexibility.

• The blueprint would retain key aspects of the NCLB law, including its requirement for annual testing in reading in math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, and its call for disaggregating student data for populations such as racial minorities, English-language learners, and students in special education.

• National School Boards Association … called the proposal “a vast improvement over the flawed No Child Left Behind program which it would now replace.”

Full article here in EdWeek.