On Wednesday, December 2 at 10:00 a.m., the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), will hold a hearing entitled, “Principles for Ensuring Retirement Advice Serves the Best Interests of Working Families and Retirees.” The hearing will take place in room 2261 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The Department of Labor has proposed a rule that will... Read more »
For almost five years, the Obama administration has set federal education policy through a controversial and convoluted conditional waiver scheme – allowing the secretary of education to impose a backdoor education agenda on states and school districts that includes Common Core, teacher evaluations based on high–stakes testing, and prescriptive school improvement plans. Fortunately, a House-Senate... Read more »
After nearly a year of legislative work, Congress is poised to replace No Child Left Behind and improve K-12 education. Both the House and Senate passed separate proposals to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this summer, and now a bicameral conference committee has put forward a final proposal that will reduce the federal role in education, restore local control, and empower... Read more »
Common Core. When it comes to education, perhaps no two words are more controversial. What began as a state-led effort to raise student achievement, has now prompted an open revolt against federal intrusion into the nation’s schools. The administration’s controversial waiver scheme and Race to the Top program empowered the secretary of education to push on states a specific set of academic standar... Read more »
No Child Left Behind was based on good intentions, but it was also based on the flawed premise that Washington knows best what students need to excel in school. The law led to the greatest federal intrusion into K-12 classrooms and failed to provide students the quality education they need to succeed in life. Instead of working with Congress to replace the law, the Obama administration has been s... Read more »
Today bipartisan leaders on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released the final legislative text for improving K-12 education and replacing No Child Left Behind. The final bill is being released after legislative proposals passed separately by the House and Senate in July and embodies the reforms agreed to by memb... Read more »
Conservative reformers have had major successes, notably on welfare in 1996. But when a reform doesn’t turn out as hoped, they need to adapt. A case in point is No Child Left Behind, which the GOP Congress is now preparing to leave behind. This week the House plans to debate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which lapsed in 2007 and needs revision. A bipartisan compromise has eme... Read more »
Last week, a House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on a proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, bringing Congress one step closer to replacing No Child Left Behind. As news reports highlight, the framework approved by the joint committee reduces the federal footprint in the nation’s classrooms and provides parents and state and school leaders with the cert... Read more »
Today, the House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on a proposal to improve K-12 education and replace No Child Left Behind. The agreement represents a compromise between the House-passed Student Success Act (H.R. 5) and the Senate-passed Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 (S. 1177). “No Child Left Behind has been failing students, parents, teachers, and state and local education leaders... Read more »
The Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), today held a hearing to review the Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), a performance-based organization responsible for managing the financial aid system. Mem... Read more »
