By Dave Cook
Staff writer/ June 10, 2009 edition
Washington
Education Secretary Arne Duncan threw his weight Wednesday behind a “common” education standard for all of America’s schoolchildren, saying the current state-by-state system has produced uneven results in which some students “are totally, inadequately prepared to go into a competitive university, let alone graduate.”
Mr. Duncan, who has been on a cross-country “listening tour” in preparation for submitting revisions for the No Child Left Behind Act, says he’s encountered support for the idea of a national standard. “Teachers have been really positive on this idea of common standards,” he said at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters. “That has played much better with teachers than I thought it would.”
The secretary acknowledged, though, that what he calls “common higher standards, internationally benchmarked” would face hurdles and involve political pain. States and local governments are protective of their prerogative to set educational standards, and what Duncan is suggesting would be a huge break with tradition.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
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