Harkin-Enzi ESEA Madness
by Frederick M. Hess • Oct 18, 2011 at 9:28 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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ShareSubstantively, I don't have a ton to add to what I wrote yesterday. But there were a couple of interesting developments, and various declarations have helped clarify where things stand. Here's my take.
The Good: Over the weekend, Harkin and Enzi scrapped the proposal to require states to adopt federally-approved teacher and principal evaluation systems. Instead, they opted to offer federal dollars to support smart state systems as a competitive grant for which states can choose to apply. This happy development marked a big win for Senator Alexander and those concerned about federal overreach. It marked a big setback for the CAP-Ed Trust Democrats, which is why Secretary Duncan lashed out at the announcement. The upshot here is that the pro-NCLB Dems didn't much like the original Harkin-Enzi proposal, and they're going to like any version that emerges from HELP even less.
The Bad: The consequence of killing the teacher and principal evaluation mandate is that Harkin-Enzi now
