Mercedes Schneider here offers the latest version of the new federal law that will replace No Child Left Behind. Prepare yourself. It is over 1,000 pages. Look for the titles that interest you. Any law that is so long has all sorts of political compromises tucked into it, and all sorts of favors to lobbyists and special interests. It is a Christmas tree, just in time for Christmas.
In this post, Mercedes analyzes the latest draft, the one that came out of the House-Senate conference committee and will likely be made law.
Why did Congress wait so long to rein in Duncan? I don’t know- it always feels calculated to me, like it’s carefully calibrated to protect “insiders” careers.
He’s on the way out so now they’re free to act, and everyone is protected. Win/win. For them.
1061 pages of technocratic, legalistic, educationese will require talmudic scholars to unpack. Mercedes is the best one to do it. Short msg: The ugly private war on public education continues. ESSA is a smokescreen and cosmetic ruse to pretend changing the abusive status quo by removing Duncan and feds from local school policy but not so, continues mandate for annual testing and the 95% participation rule, making state govt. now the official enforcers of the now hugely unpopular Common Core and PARCC/SBAC testing regimes, names gone, tests still there.
I truly appreciate the opportunity, but I don’t have time to read it; I wonder if any congress people do.
Please ask your representative to vote against this bill if it is forced to a vote within 60 days. Ask them to instead support a moratorium on the NCLB standardized testing mandates until a new ESEA renewal is discussed and passed.