Follower’s of Fordham’s work know that for the better part of three years, we’ve been pushing an approach to federal education policy that we call “Reform Realism“–a pro-school reform orientation leavened with a realistic view of what the federal government can get right in education. Its central tenets are tight-loose (tighter on results, looser on how to achieve them); incentives over mandates, and transparency over accountability.
Two weeks ago, Senator Lamar Alexander and a handful of colleagues introduced a legislative proposal that embodies Reform Realism. As I wrote then, it demonstrates a combination of thoughtfulness and humility that is rare in federal policymaking.
