Secretary Duncan Answers Facebook Questions for Week Ending July 8

Hi I'm Arne Duncan and I want to respond to a couple of great questions we received via Facebook. Annie sort of asked two things. One, she's very supportive of the Common Core standards work that's going on around the country--what are our thoughts on that. And she asks what are our thoughts on NCLB reauthorization. So on the first part, we couldn't be more proud that 42 states are working together to raise the bar. Higher standards for every single child; this work would've been unimaginable just a couple years ago. We had 50 states, all doing their own thing--many states dumbing down standards and actually lying to children. So that leadership, that courage, is absolutely happening at the state level, we want to continue to support it in any way we can, but again?that courage is coming from governors, from state school chief officers, and we're encouraging them not just to focus on those standards, but to have a well-rounded curriculum to make sure all of our children have access to a wide range of subjects. On ESEA reauthorization, the current law, as everyone knows, is fundamentally broken, we're pushing Congress very, very hard to reauthorize it and to do it with a sense of urgency. That's been absolutely plan A, but I've been very clear that if Congress fails to act or acts too slow, we're prepared to work with states and provide them with waivers. We think with the current system the vast majority of our schools will be labeled as failures?that's not honest, not right. And it's very confusing, demoralizing to staff, parents don't understand it, students wonder what's going on, and so we want to provide relief?we want to work with states. Keeping a high bar, keeping clear accountability there. But if Congress doesn't act, we'll provide regulatory relief here from the department. And if we do that, that doesn't at all preclude Congress from fixing the law for the entire country. It may be our work will be a bridge, a transition to where we go. So this is evolving every single day. Congress is working hard, and that remains absolutely plan A. I'm hopeful that happens, I'm hopeful that work gets done. But if it doesn't, we're absolutely preparing here to provide regulatory relief. Deborah asked a question about the current state of assessments, wants to know what's going on with the next generation. She likes what happens, for example, on the ACT writing exam, and wants to know how we're going to get more states doing that. This is something that we are never going to do directly at the federal government. We are absolutely thrilled that we have two consortia, two groups of states, 44 states in all, working on this next generation of assessments. And we're helping to fund that work, in the form of almost 350 million dollars in grants, to those two groups of states working together. But as we as a country move towards higher standards, we need the next generation of assessments. These should never come from the federal government; they should always come from the local level. To see the courage and the leadership and the hard work that's going on there makes me very, very hopeful about where we're going.