The Obama Education Splurge/Stimulus: More Testing

Greg Toppo:

The USA's public schools stand to be the biggest winners in Congress' $825 billion economic stimulus plan unveiled last week. Schools are scheduled to receive nearly $142 billion over the next two years -- more than health care, energy or infrastructure projects -- and the stimulus could bring school advocates closer than ever to a long-sought dream: full funding of the No Child Left Behind law and other huge federal programs.

But tucked into the text of the proposal's 328 pages are a few surprises: If they want the money -- and they certainly do -- schools must spend at least a portion of it on a few of education advocates' long-sought dreams. In particular, they must develop:

• High-quality educational tests.
• Ways to recruit and retain top teachers in hard-to-staff schools.
• Longitudinal data systems that let schools track long-term progress.

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The Wisconsin test: WKCE has been criticized for its low standards. More on the WKCE here.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 19, 2009 7:48 PM
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