Over at New Talk, the usual suspects are discussing the question: Should we scrap No Child Left Behind?
Although the debate is interesting, you won’t be surprised by the answers. Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute and Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute say yes. Former Bush adviser Sandy Kress, eduwonk Andy Rotherham, Stanford’s Eric Hanushek, and several others say no. All of them want changes, but they would keep much of its core principles intact.
Isn’t NewTalk asking the wrong question of the wrong people?
The real question is: What will the next version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act look like?
And here are the people I’d want to answer it: Barack Obama, George Miller, Ted Kennedy, Linda Darling-Hammond, Jon Schnur, and the next U.S. secretary of education (if that person isn’t already listed above).
Those people aren’t ready to answer that question, at least publicly. When they are, I’ll be back to the daily grind of blogging.