Is the NCLB against the law?

The report's section on "The Constitution and No Child Left Behind" could have been written by a moderate libertarian. It expresses dismay that "judicial interpretations of the Constitution in the latter half of the 20th century have significantly eroded state authority and frequently left states to the exigencies of federal politics," and claims the spending clause "has allowed the federal government to bypass the issues of constitutionality," before concluding that "The Task Force does not believe that NCLB is constitutional under the 10th Amendment, because there is no reference to public education in the U.S. Constitution."

Thanks to the Education Intelligence Agency.

Well, at least they know how the kids feel now: Colleges perplexed by new SAT

In a few weeks, high school students face the prospect of taking the much-publicized new SAT Reasoning Test, which for the first time will require them to write a timed essay. Yet colleges continue to send confusing signals about whether students applying in the fall to attend college must take the new exam.

Some schools, including Harvard, say they will accept scores from either the new test or the old SAT I, which was administered for the last time in January and did not contain a writing section. "If students happened to take the old SAT in the middle of their junior year and did very well, we don't want to have to require the new one," says William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid.

Public Ed has always been a test ground for larger Constitutional rights (see Brown v. Board of Ed). IMO what makes these cases so interesting is one can truly see how the Bill of Rights tries to protect the rights of the minority.

In Slate,Dahlia Lithwick analyzes a Virginia district's plan to continue weekly religious instruction during school time but off campus.

Quote: The Constitution is subject to neither majority rule nor to popular recall. Democracy is an exquisite invention. But programs can be popular and still unconstitutional.

At Slate: A series of articles called "teachings", written by Eric Liu, now compiled in a new book called "Guiding Lights", is good reading (Thanks Alton).

Here is a quote from the author:

Over the last two and a half years, I traveled across the country in search of life-changing teachers and mentors from all different walks. I met race-car drivers, Indian potters, ballet dancers, rappers, research scientists, law professors, Montessori teachers, aerobatic pilots, master carpenters, and many others. The book that emerged from those travels is called Guiding Lights. It tells the stories of several of these remarkable people and the ways they transform their apprentices. And it's the basis for a series of four pieces on Slate and NPR's Day to Day in which figures from the book teach me to do something new.