Early Ed Watch

Both the House and Senate are currently considering proposals to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, the 2001 iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It is unlikely that either of these will actually become law; the Senate education committee’s comprehensive bill and the House education committee’s package of five bills have little in common and, in the House’s case, no bipartisan support, leaving few opportunities for compromise. It’s worth taking a close look at the proposals on the table, however, to get a feel for how each Congressional delegation is thinking about education policy. The bills take different paths in several areas, and below we highlight five: early learning, federal funding, school improvement, teacher and leader quality, and the future of Race to the Top and the Obama administration’s other education reform grant programs.

On the eve of the South Carolina primary, it’s still unclear which candidate will emerge as the Republican Presidential nominee for 2012— and what a victory by any of them would mean for the education world. Policy issues like pre-K access and child care are more or less invisible.

What can we expect as the race charges forward?

The 10-year anniversary of No Child Left Behind has become a moment of reflection for many of us in education policy.  NCLB was landmark legislation, requiring for the first time that states publicly report on their student’s annual progress in reading and math by race, gender and socio-economic status.

Answering the Senate education committee’s fall proposal for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, last Friday, Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, introduced two final ESEA bills, completing a package of five bills that would rewrite the current law, No Child Left Behind.