The Answer Sheet: Congress


Posted at 01:46 PM ET, 01/02/2013

House Republicans like Indiana for education panel (update)
By Valerie Strauss
The Republicans have chosen their lineup for the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in the 113th Congress, and it turns out that Indiana took top honors in terms of number of seats. Here's the list.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:46 PM ET, 01/02/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Congress, Education Policy, House committee members selected, The List

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 01/06/2011

NCLB's 9th anniversary: 'Will there be anything we will need to remember after the test?'
By Valerie Strauss
Nine years ago this week president Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act. Take a look at what it wrought.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:15 AM ET, 01/06/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  congress and nclb, esea, esea reauthorization, national education association, nclb, nclb reauthorization, no child left behind, standardized testing, teachers unions

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011

A principal on standardized vs. teacher-written tests
By Valerie Strauss
Educator George Wood urges Congress not to rely on standardized tests to measure achievement. If you don't think that "data-driven decision-making" is really test-driven decision making, consider this: Ohio’s school report cards consist of 26 “data” points, and 24 of them—92%--are test scores.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood | Tags:  arne duncan, disaggregated data, education secretary duncan, elementary and secondary school act, esea, esea reauthoraization, george word, nclb, new congress, new york performance assessment consortium, no child left behind, reauthorization of no child left behind, standardized tests

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 12/23/2010

Congress approves weird definition of 'highly qualified’ teachers
By Valerie Strauss
So they’ve gone ahead and done it. U.S. legislators have passed legislation that includes a provision that will turn into law a definition of a “highly qualified” teachers that would include people with only a few weeks of training.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 12/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teachers, Teachers, Teachers | Tags:  congress, continuing resolution, highly qualified teachers, teachers

Posted at 11:39 AM ET, 12/07/2010

Ravitch to Gates: Let's talk
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch invites Bill Gates to a public discussion on education reform, and explains why public schools must remain public.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:39 AM ET, 12/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  bill gates, checker finn, diane ravitch, education policy, federal control of schools, local control of schools, obama and school reform, republicans in congress, school reform, school reform policies, wall street journal

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/04/2010

Where Kline stands on education policy
By Valerie Strauss
The man expected to be the new chairman of the House's education committee has some strong opinions about policy: He immensely dislikes No Child Left Behindy, but wants the Disabilities Education Act fully funded.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Congress | Tags:  112th congress, IDEA, arne duncan, charter schools, congress, education committee, education policy, gop takeover, gop victory, house education and labor committee, john kline, midterm elections, nclb, no child left behind, president obama, race to the top, rep. john kline, republican victory, special ed, special education

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/03/2010

Education policy: What will happen now
By Valerie Strauss
If you think things have been unexpectedly bad in the world of education under President Obama, the Republican takeover of the House could just make things even worse.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 11/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Congress | Tags:  boehner, boehner speaker of the house, congress, democrats, education department, education policy, gops takes house, john boehner, nclb, no child left behind, obama, obama democrats, president obama, rand paul, republican takeover, republicans, speaker of the house

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/01/2010

Why won't Congress admit NCLB failed?
By Valerie Strauss
Monty Neill asks and answers: Why is Congress so unwilling to recognize both research and public opinion and overhaul the most basic fact of No Child Left Behind: Its high-stakes standardized testing regime has failed?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, congress, congress nclb, fairtest, finland education, finland schools, gallup poll, nclb, no child left behind, singapore education, singapore schools

Posted at 10:13 AM ET, 07/02/2010

Declaration of Independence rough draft shows crossout
By Valerie Strauss
Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Library of Congress has this news: Hyperspectral imaging of Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence has confirmed that he originally wrote the phrase “our fellow subjects,” but then scrawled over it the word “citizens.”

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:13 AM ET, 07/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  Fourth of July, July 4, declaration of independence, declaration of independence and signers, declaration of independence text, history, independence day and history, library of congress and declaration, thomas jefferson and declaration

Posted at 02:06 PM ET, 06/23/2010

Law student James Madison rediscovered through lost notes
By Valerie Strauss
The discovery that a series of aw notes thought to have been written by Thomas Jefferson were actually penned by James Madison has led to a call for a reassessment of the fourth U.S. president.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:06 PM ET, 06/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  history, james madison and law, james madison notes, jefferson's papers, library of congress and jefferson, library of congress and madison, lost notes found, madison notes found, thomas jefferson and james madison

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 03/04/2010

Congress moves quickly to stop abuse at schools--NOT
By Valerie Strauss
You might think Congress would act swiftly when it learned of hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death of children who were subjected to seclusion and restraints in public and private schools over the previous two decades. I guess it all depends on your definition of "swiftly."

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 03/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Bullying | Tags:  Congress, abuse in school