The author reports on a measure to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which faces steep political hurdles. Leaders of the Senate education committee still aim to push a bipartisan revision of the much-criticized No Child Left Behind Act through Congress by year's end, in time to stave off the Obama administration's move to offer states waivers of parts of the nearly decade-old law. That appears to be a tall order, given the short and crowded legislative calendar, polarized political climate, and lack of consensus within the K-12 community on issues--such as accountability and teacher quality--at the heart of the law, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The next stop for the bill, sponsored by U.S. Senators Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., is a hearing Nov. 8 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Despite a 15-7 committee vote Oct. 20 approving the bill, the measure to reauthorize the ESEA faces a range of opposition, much of it centering on changes to accountability provisions involving specific subgroups of students, including minorities, English-language learners, and students with disabilities.