BLOGS: A Quick Spin Around The Blogs

An Intriguing Alternative to No Child Left Behind Jay Mathews (Washington Post)
If the No Child Left Behind law, focused on raising test scores, proves to be a dead end, what do we do next? I rarely read or hear intelligent discussion of this question.

Has the Research on Formative Assessment Been Oversold?  Stephen Sawchuk 
Though called assessments, in practice they're more like exercises teachers use to gather immediate feedback on whether a student is responding to...

Pity the state superintendents  Mike Petrilli
Maybe if [the Duncan team] had an state education agency (SEA) person on their team they’d know that the state agencies are hemorrhaging staff right now, thanks to state budget cuts, which makes even relatively simple tasks like this one more difficult.

Stimulus Funds Can't Rescue California Now Politics K12
Now that voters have rejected several budget fixes, the $4 billion in state fiscal stabilization fund money headed to California is barely going to make a dent in the state's deficit.

Like A Bad Penny… Eduwonk
…teacher testing in Massachusetts is back!