ESEA Plan Draws Bipartisan Praise—and Questions

Less than a week after it was unveiled, the Obama administration’s blueprint for overhauling the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is drawing both bipartisan support and skepticism from the congressional committees tasked with the law’s reauthorization.

In a pair of Wednesday appearances, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan assured members of the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that the administration wants to extend flexibility to states and districts while boosting student-achievement goals.

The reception, particularly in the Senate, was generally positive to the plan unveiled March 13 for revamping the ESEA, whose current version—signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002—is the No...