Andy Rotherham raises valid concerns about recent developments in Washington:

But when you look at the country as a whole, and the decades it has spent trying and failing to reform our education system, it is fair to question the wisdom of handing key aspects of education policy back to the states given their track record and the status quo. Washington may not yet be a great partner on school improvement, but it's hardly the cause of our educational problems. Nor does it make sense to give up on federal oversight and let the state foxes do whatever they want with the hen houses.

Rumors are circulating that Congress is going to seriously try to get something done on education this fall, if only to push back on the administration's plan to rewrite NCLB through the use of waivers. If the eagerness to demonstrate some bipartisanship on education turns into a stampede, it's not hard to see common ground between what Republican governors, Republican leaders in Washington, and the Obama Administration want — and that means a lot less accountability, especially since the administration has a rocky record of standing up to Republican demands. Given the national imperative of improving our schools and the mixed record of states, perhaps it's worth pausing to ask if this is really a bipartisanship worth celebrating.

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Coming Together to Dismantle Education Reform

By Andrew J. Rotherham Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2095515,00.html#ixzz1ZLdVFbu7