What would a Mitt Romney presidency look like when it comes to K-12? Now that it's more of a horse race than it was before I took my October hiatus, this is a more interesting question. I walk through the likely implications of a Romney win in the most recent Phi Delta Kappan (see here). But, for those in a hurry, here are a couple highlights:

Big Picture: The safe bet is that a President Romney would keep much of the same substantive agenda as Obama, but would do so with a lighter touch, less spending, and more emphasis on choice. In particular, a Romney administration is more likely to differ on the appropriate federal role in pushing those policies. As Harvard professor and chief Romney education adviser Marty West says, "[Romney] believes the federal government is poorly positioned to specify what needs to be done at the local level."

NCLB: Romney embraces NCLB's core testing and transparency requirements and wants a reauthorization that holds fast to those, while jettisoning much of the law's balky, intrusive "remedy cascade" and ...

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