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Arne Duncan Makes Sales Pitch for Waivers, Turnarounds, Early Ed in Senate Hearing
4/30/14 | Politics K-12/Ed Week

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Obama’s NCLB Waivers: Are They Necessary or Illegal?
Spring 2012 | Education Next

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appeared before the Senate on Wednesday to defend his budget request and was given a hard time by Senator Lamar Alexander over his decision to revoke Washington state’s NCLB waiver.

Alexander criticized Duncan for trying to dictate how the state of Washington evaluates its teachers through the waiver process. Duncan responded that states have a lot of flexibility within the waivers in how they evaluate their teachers.

Earlier this week Rick Hess criticized Duncan on the Ed Next blog for taking the waiver away from Washington.

In the Spring 2012 issue of Ed Next, Andy Rotherham and Martha Derthick debated the legality — and the wisdom — of the waivers.

Arne Duncan also heard some harsh words at Wednesday’s hearing about the School Improvement Grant program. Senator Mary Landrieu asked for evidence that the $6 billion spent on SIGs is working.

Andy Smarick has argued repeatedly on the Ed Next blog that the SIG program is a failure and should be abandoned.

-Education Next