Spellings' Spinelessness Returns, Blogosphere Responds

The NCLB HOUSSE standards for teachers have been something of a joke nearly from the start, and after just a few moments of seeming reform-mindedness earlier this year (declaring that states should stop the madness and seeming to be interested in teacher equity as well), Spineless Spellings has gone back to her old ways and declared that states can continue using them -- basically punting after many states were already in the chute to dump HOUSSE.

AP's Ben Feller covers it pretty straight (as he should) in last week Ed. Dept. Eases Teacher Quality Rule. Over at Eduwonk, Andy declares that Spellings et al are again going "extra-legal" -- a phrase that for some reason makes me giggle ("If you don't clean up your room, young man, I'm going to go extra legal on you."). Over at the AFT Blog (HOUSSE Renovations), you can almost see Beth smirking as she types " I guess the HOUSSE just moved from the 0.1 % of NCLB that was impure to the 99.9 % of the law that is pure." But once again you're left wondering just where the AFT stands.

UPDATE: AFT Beth writes in: "Yes, sometimes I smirk when I blog...the AFT supports maintaining the HOUSSE as an option for veteran teachers to demonstrate that they are highly qualified."

UPDATE 2: Ryan Boots at edspresso weights in (Spellings and NCLB standards).