In an interview with The Associated Press, Alexander said he wants to stop the federal government from deciding which schools and teachers are succeeding and which are failing. He says governors know better than education secretaries what works.
With both sides gearing up for a fight over NCLB reauthorization this summer, a separate legislative wrangle over student loans is certain to get higher priority. Interest rates on new subsidized Stafford loans are set to double on July 1 without congressional action. Competing versions of legislation to avoid that hike on students were making their way through the House and Senate as of press time.
The sweeping Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known since the Bush era as NCLB, governs all schools that receive federal dollars for poor, minority, disabled, and students whose primary language is not English. Harkin’s version of the reauthorization would eliminate 20 programs while encouraging states to expand art, physical education, and pre-kindergarten programs.
In exchange for those federal dollars, schools would have to meet certain standards—previously set by Washington but increasingly dictated by state capitols.
The nation’s largest teacher union, the National Education Association, applauded lawmakers for taking up changes to what it called a “flawed law” but urged them not to add importance to testing.
And the American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten called Harkin’s bill “a good first step.”
“The bill requires a variety of measures to evaluate teachers, rather than making test scores the be-all and end-all,” she said.
But that does not mean schools would be off the hook for measuring students’ achievements. Students still would be tested in reading and math each year from third to eighth grades, as well as once in high school. Schools also would have to measure students’ aptitude in science at least three times between third grade and graduation.
See also:
But those tests could be combined with student portfolios or projects, an effort to win over the law’s critics who said too much emphasis was placed on testing.
The proposal also requires schools to share detailed performance reports with parents.
Duncan has pushed Congress to update the law to accommodate challenges officials did not anticipate when the measure was passed on a bipartisan basis in 2001. But absent congressional action, Duncan has been giving states permission to ignore parts of the law that are unworkable in exchange for detailed school improvement plans.
Already, 37 states and the District of Columbia have been given such waivers. Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming are still waiting to hear about their applications, along with a coalition of California districts.
In a memo circulating on Capitol Hill and among education advocates, Harkin’s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee acknowledges criticism of NCLB’s requirements as “setting inflexible benchmarks without considering the different needs of schools and without recognizing student progress.”
- New research challenges fears about AI in the classroom - February 5, 2026
- How the FY25 funding freeze impacts students across America - July 24, 2025
- ‘Buyer’s remorse’ dogging Common Core rollout - October 30, 2014