1, In talking about a Nation at Risk Secretary of Education Terell Bell said:

Education is the foremost responsibility of state governments. Recent reports show that state governments haven’t been doing a very good job handling education over the last couple of decades. But the federal government ought not to be mandating curriculum and standards. We could ask Congress to make it a violation of federal statute to graduate a student without x years of science and y years of mathematics. Or we could say that as a condition to receive federal money, states would have to set certain minimum requirements. But I don’t think we should do that. The National Commission on Excellence has heightened the decline. Now it is the responsibility of the state and local governments to do something about it.

What exactly is Bell saying and to what version of federalism is he speaking?

2. Give the Improving America’s Schools Act, in what respects does NCLB represent something new? Explain

3. How does NCLB affect the federal relationship? Is this another example of what might be referred to as “coercive federalism”?

4. How would you as a state or local administrator, given all the federal requirements proceed to evaluate the success of your efforts to improve the schools including teacher quality?