The columnist Dana Milbank's newspaper has allowed its pages to be used against him. In response to Milbank's latest offering, John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress think tank, writes this morning in the Washington Post in support of President Obama's?education agenda:
Educators have complained that the tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act are too rigid and don't provide an adequate assessment of what children need to learn to succeed. Most reformers agree. That's why the Obama administration set aside $350 million in its Race to the Top grant program to help states develop next-generation assessments that better evaluate what students should know.
Podesta defends his own agenda, too:
Part of the problem is inequitable state and local funding systems, and that's why the Center for American Progress (CAP) supports closing the loophole in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that allows districts to fund schools unfairly.
CAP also endorses enhancing teacher pay for high performance. Teachers on the front lines must help craft such arrangements, and several recent collective bargaining agreements have shown that such initiatives are possible.
Jay Mathews, a Post education reporter, also devoted space?to chastening his colleague.
?Liam Julian