Education Desk: Durbin Touts New Education Law

The new law allows states to take action over their education system and localizes the measures that teachers need to accomplish instead of every school in the country meeting the exact same measures.

The long-awaited bill to replace the 2002 law easily passed the Senate on Wednesday and the House last week, in a rare example of the Republican-controlled Congress and Obama finding common ground on major legislation. “We finally reached that deal,”, President Obama explained Thursday morning.

While the bill is a hit in Washington, there are some sceptics who say it sends the wrong message to the nation.

“But of course, now the hard work begins”.

The biggest takeaway from the new law may well be that the feds won’t be almost as involved in education at the state level as they once were.

The law does not get rid of statewide standardized tests, but it drops the link between those test scores and teacher evaluations.

The newly signed permission slip goes for testing, accountability and teacher certification.

“We’re really proud of the fact that we know best what to do for our South Dakota students, and that’s the recognition that this law has”, Schopp said.

Don’t start applauding yet, kids.

“But it has enough ambiguities in it that you could still see the door open for the secretary of education to still impact what standards states use and how schools are evaluated”, he warns. She says the new law could be good for the state. Young said the rating is part of the Texas accountability system, and not the federal government’s. The law does ensure states are setting high standards to prepare students for college and a career.

Black Hills FOX reporter Robert Grant said, “School officials say standardized testing is especially important here at the Douglas School District where only about 13 percent of the students stay all 12 years”.

The legislation requires that test scores be broken down by race, family income and disability status.