Triage For Failing Schools -- The Coverage

Take your pick -- there are mostly minor differences among stories on the announcement from yesterday:

U.S. Eases ‘No Child’ Law as Applied to Some States NYT
“This is something good, something we’ve been advocating,” said Reg Weaver, president of the NEA, the teachers union.

US Eases 'No Child' Sanctions Washington Post
Jeff Simering, legislative director for the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools, said he worries that urban schools will continue to face sanctions while suburban schools will get a break.

States to Get Leeway  on School Sanctions AP
The new initiative will allow states to distinguish between "on-fire schools and those with a smolder," Spellings said in an interview Monday.

Spellings Offers Latitude on Poor-Performing Schools EdWeek
The pilot project will be open to a state if the U.S. Department of Education has approved its assessment system and its plan to provide “highly qualified” teachers in every classroom.

Comments

[john thompson]

Spelling's "Suburban Relief Act" reverses one of the few good things about NCLB - it was equally unfair to all. Six years ago when I participated in our state's AYP process, we EXPLICITLY sought to hang together so we wouldn't hang separately. From the first we new that federal mandates were impossible, but we EXPRESSED our hopes that Republican governors would come to the rescue. All types of superintendents were in the room, and they predicted nearly WORD For WORD what actually happened.

Please recall your links to the 18 Chicago public school students' deaths and the comparable article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the police response EVERY DAY to the release of a school and the nonstop disruptions that spill into the streets. Its urban schools that need relief from NCLB.

Perhaps we need some old-fashioned horse trading. Give us the capacity for dealing with the worse urban pathologies, and we'll let the suburbs off the hook regarding accountability, and if return educators can refrain from saying, "I told you so" regarding NCLB..