Strings attached: To get federal stimulus funds, states need to provide more school data

From The New York Times: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is telling the nation’s governors that in exchange for billions of dollars in federal education aid provided under the economic stimulus law, he wants new information about the performance of their public schools, much of which could be embarrassing. The data is likely to reveal that in many states, tests have been dumbed down so that students score far higher than on tests administered by the federal Department of Education.

EARLIER:

From the U.S. Department of Education: Some $44 billion in economic stimulus funds now is available for states and schools under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the federal government will use stimulus funding to encourage states to expand school days, reward good teachers, fire bad ones and measure how students perform compared with peers in India and China. The stimulus law, which will channel about $100 billion to public schools, universities and early childhood education programs, will help prevent teacher layoffs, overhaul aging schools and educate low-income children. But it also gives Duncan the means to shape change.

Read The Washington Post article.