Why Arne Duncan is threatening to withhold funds for poor kids
It’s hard to decide which of the following aspects of the U.S. Education Department’s fight with the state of California over standardized testing is worse:
* Education Secretary Arne Duncan is threatening to withhold some of the approximately $1.5 billion that California receives annually from the federal Title 1 program — funds intended to help poor children receive an education — if state officials don’t agree to implement a standardized-testing regime that he likes.
* He would rather have the state give students standardized tests that California officials say no longer reflect the curriculum than to allow kids to go a year without being tested.
* He is trying to come down hard on California as a way of warning other states not to try to defy the Education Department.
* He is selectively enforcing No Child Left Behind, a law that he admits is fatally flawed and should be scrapped.
What’s this all about?
California passed a law (AB 484) to abandon the standardized tests that have been given to students for years because the state adopted the Common Core standards and is revamping its curriculum. The old tests don’t reflect the new curriculum, so it would