Can you say “momentum?” President Obama received a letter today from Senators Evan Bayh, Tom Carper, Blanche Lincoln, May Landrieu, Michael Bennet, Joseph Lieberman, Bill Nelson, Claire McCaskill, Mark Warner, and Herb Kohl. Ascribing their fellowship to joint membership in the "Moderate Democrats Working in the United States Senate" (Lieberman? Whatever), their letter addresses the need for education reform, noting that “academic achievement is too low for many students and over 1.2 million students drop out of high school every year."
The letter then goes on to endorse “a number of education reform proposals put forth in your Fiscal Year 2010 budget.” These include:
1) dedicating “increased resources to the Teacher Incentive Fund” which should “support states and districts that recognize student achievement to be the most important indicator of an educator’s performance. They specifically note “new compensation systems.”
2) “We support the expanding the number of effective charter schools.”
3) “We support.your Administration’s desire to extend student learning time.”
4) “We believe our education agenda should be driven by accurate information….”
In other words, merit pay, more charter schools, extended school years, and data- driven growth models to track student performance. Sound familiar? Maybe we’re actually moving towards a national consensus.