This Week In Education: Thompson: CAP Waiver Analysis Misses Much

This Week In Education: Thompson: CAP Waiver Analysis Misses Much:

Thompson: CAP Waiver Analysis Misses Much

by john thompson

Does the Center for American Progress have a specific vendetta against Oklahoma schools? Or were we just a random target? Jeremy Ayers, author of the CAP's "No Child Left Behind Waiver," criticizes the Oklahoma NCLB waiver request as too complex but he gave no indication that he understands either the state's educational policy or politics. Oklahoma's performance-driven evaluation law was based on the Colorado law that the CAP pushed, and yet Ayers complains that we have not rushed past Colorado in nailing down the details. This is even though just last week, the OK State Board of Education reached a sensible compromise on teacher evaluations. The Board's logic was that the key to success is building a constructive culture of accountability, as we will learn from a pilot project in 2012. Ayers