The Heartland Institute

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is unlikely to improve academic outcomes, concludes a new report from the Brookings Institution. The Core, a set of grade-level requirements for what students should know in math and language arts, was adopted by 45 states under pressure from the Obama administration. The report concludes ...

The Virginia Senate voted 23-17 to postpone until next year a bill to replace unlimited public school teacher tenure with three-year contracts, one of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s priorities for the 2012 session. “Today's vote is a delay; it is not a defeat,” McDonnell (R) said in a statement. “Increased accountability in our public ...

A new report by former U.S. Education Department officials questions the legality of federal support for the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a set of education standards which critics say will lead to a national curriculum and tests. The report, “ The Road to a National Curriculum ,” concludes the Obama administration ...

President Obama’s 2013 budget request increases the Department of Education’s budget by 3.5 percent—the largest increase of any domestic agency—to nearly $70 billion, after decades of increases in federal education funding. Despite this increase, the administration’s budget eliminates funding for the successful DC Opportunity Scholarship ...

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a measure to replace unlimited public school teacher tenure with three-year contracts. The state Senate narrowly defeated, 18-22, a companion bill to do the same, but Gov. Bob McDonnell will have a chance to lobby state Senators for this key component of his education agenda before the ...

House Republicans have released draft language for the last two of five bills to rewrite and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, currently known as No Child Left Behind. Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) says he will sponsor the Student Success Act, which makes several ...

The U.S. Senate is considering an 860-page bill and 868-page amendment by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. The proposal passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Oct. 19, with a hearing set for November 8. During the committee mark-up, Sen. Rand ...