Happy Friday! And what goes better with nice spring weather than accountability, testing, and personalized learning?

Check out these good reads:

•Remember how Colorado wanted to write opt-out language into its waiver renewal application? The change would have allowed the state not to count parent opt-outs towards a school’s 95 percent participation requirement for NCLB. But the feds told the Centennial State, sorry, no can do.

•Alexander Russo of This Week in Education is branching out. He’s got a brand new blog on Washington Monthly that will explore education and the media. And it’s funded by ... wait for it ... Education Post (aka the non-profit communications organization that’s become a retirement home of sorts for Obama edu-political appointees) and the American Federation of Teachers (the nation’s second largest teachers’ union.) My colleague Mark Walsh’s take on the blog here.

•Remember that No Child Left Behind rewrite bill that passed the Senate education committee last month with big bipartisan backing? There was some new language in there to help further the use of “open educational resoures” developed by teachers, according to my colleague Sean Cavanagh. More here.

•Speaking of the NCLB rewrite, are there enough creative ideas floating around Congress when it comes to improving K-12 schools? Maybe not so much, say the folks at Bellwether Education Partners, in this report. One interesting idea missing from the mix? Personalized learning.

•Remember how we told you California could apply for a federal waiver that would allow the districts in the state access to funds now set aside for tutoring and school choice? They’re going for, it per Ed Source.