Duncan Defends Proposed Education Overhauls

[jefferson_dem]

Duncan Defends Proposed Education Overhauls
By Lydia Gensheimer, CQ Staff

There are a lot of moving parts in President Obama’s plans to overhaul the nation’s education system, and reactions to some on Thursday ran the gamut from a warm embrace to a dismissive wave.

Members of the House Budget Committee posed a range of questions to Education Secretary Arne Duncan , prodding him especially on the proposed changes to student loan and grant programs — an indicator the issue is going to be one of the stickier ones to resolve.

But despite the mix of reactions at the hearing, Duncan sees the department as an engine of innovation that can reward and spread programs that work.

“We have the real chance to lay the foundation for a generation of reform that can restore American leadership in education,” he said.

<SNIP>

Duncan said he thinks the 2002 No Child Left Behind elementary and secondary education law (PL 107-110) got the federal government’s role backwards. The law, Duncan said, led states to lower their standards so that their students would not appear to be failing, and then was overly proscriptive in telling states how to meet those standards.

Duncan said the federal government should provide clear “goalposts” for standards under the law, but allow states to determine what practices schools should adopt to meet those standards.

In April, Obama will request $46.7 billion, $500 million more than provided in fiscal 2009, in discretionary funding for the Education Department. The $46.7 billion figure will not include funding for Pell grants.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/frame-templates/print_template.html

[mucifer]

1. all I gotta say is Duncan was in charge of the Chicago Public School System and it's a HUGE mess.

I can't understand why President Obama picked arne duncan.

[rwheeler31]

2. I will give the guy some time.

[babylonsister]

3. Mr. Duncan will have a lot of range to do the right thing

with this opportunity. Sounds good so far, but it's early. I'm not willing to write any of this off, or him.