On Wednesday, Michigan superintendent Mike Flanagan dumped the Education Achievement Authority, saying it will no longer be exclusively responsible for Michigan’s failing schools. Opponents to the EEA are claiming victory, but Gadfly notes that this is a political maneuver that Detroit’s children won’t find very clever.
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, a Republican, is taking a tool from our school-choice toolkit. He wants to expand the state’s tax-credit-scholarship program while requiring scholarship students to take the same (or similar) assessments as their public-school counterparts. The expansion would also allow partial scholarships for participating families with rising incomes—a smart way to encourage upward mobility.
The majority of teachers may support Common Core, but the largest union is raising a big red flag nonetheless. But read the NEA’s words carefully; when its president, Dennis Van Roekel, says a major “course correction” is needed, we’re pretty sure he’s mostly talking about teacher evaluations. Implementation isn’t easy, but “when the going gets tough, union presidents run for cover.”
