On its 10-year anniversary, there is consensus that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is broken. The debate over how to reform NCLB has generated a number of proposals from both houses of Congress and the Obama Administration, but ideas about how to rewrite the law differ greatly. In early 2012, the House Education and the Workforce Committee introduced…

Increasing federal intervention and the resulting burden of complying with federal programs, rules, and regulations has caused a significant growth in state bureaucracy, much of which has a parasitic relationship with federal education programs, straining the time and resources of local schools. Instead of responding first to students, parents,…

Renewed interest in restoring constitutional principles has sharpened debate on a variety of policy issues. Education is no exception. The Constitution does not provide for a federal role in education, and public schools have traditionally been under the jurisdiction of local authorities. Washington's intervention seems to have brought out the…

The federal Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program awarded $4.35 billion among select states, giving preference on grant applications to those states that agreed to adopt national education standards and tests. Moreover, the Obama Administration has suggested making federal Title I funding contingent upon adoption of national…

The Obama Administration has signaled that it will include a $1.35 billion expansion of the "Race to the Top" (RTTT) fund in its FY 2011 budget. This is in addition to the $4.35 billion for RTTT included in last year's stimulus bill. Under the Department of Education's (DOE) guidelines for RTTT, states must meet certain requirements to be eligible…

An education gap between white students and their black and Hispanic peers is something to which most Americans have become accustomed. But this racial division of education--and hence of prospects for the future--is nothing less than tragic. The good news is that the racial divide in learning is a problem that can be fixed. Of course, it can only…

American education needs to be fixed, but national standards and testing are not the way to do it. The problems that need fixing are too deeply ingrained in the power and incentive structure of the public education system, and the renewed focus on national standards threatens to distract from the fundamental issues. Besides, federal control over…

This paper reviews nationwide education reforms under No Child Left Behind and state reforms in Florida--comparing federal and state results. The paper examines the danger that federal regulations and incentives pose to testing and accountability systems in Florida and every other state. The limits of No Child Left Behind and the promise of…

Twenty-five years after the seminal report "A Nation at Risk," American education remains in a state of crisis. Millions of students continue to pass through the public schools without mastering basic skills and knowledge. Policymakers and the public must recognize both this persistent failure and the attendant need for systemic reform in American…

As Congress considers reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 a fundamental question in the debate is whether to continue to increase federal government management authority over education or to restore citizen ownership of America's schools. Testing requirements in NCLB are having unintended consequences: by requiring…

On the fifth anniversary of No Child Left Behind, Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) outline their alternative for restoring state and local ownership of education policymaking while ensuring transparency about results and accountability to parents and taxpayers. The A-PLUS Act of 2007 (Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success) will…

This transcription of a lecture delivered by Rod Paige provides a discussion of the future plans for American education. After an introduction by Phillip N. Truluck, Executive Vice President of the Heritage Foundation, Paige uses the following topic headings to direct his talk: (1) The Education Revolution; (2) Improving Accountability and…

On April 5, 2005, the Georgetown Public Policy Institute released its first of several reports on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. The 100+ page report describes the characteristics of the initial group of participating students and their families and offers important first-year comparative data. Moreover, the report provides important…

This publication raises several points of discussion concerning the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and its future. Two years after its enactment, NCLB implementation proceeds by trial and error. Its ultimate success or failure remains unclear. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and teacher quality requirements are not always compatible with existing…