June 5th Washington Monthly Event: “Education’s Next Big Test”

Introduction: The Next Wave of School Reform

By Paul Glastris

Soon, nearly every state in the union will have the same demanding standards for what students should know. If history is any guide, a burst of innovation won’t be far behind.
By Robert Rothman

A Test Worth Teaching To

The race to fix America’s broken system of standardized exams.
By Susan Headden

Grand Test Auto

The end of testing.
By Bill Tucker

Editors: Paul Glastris, John Gravois
Reporting and research: Laura M. Colarusso
Publisher: Diane Straus Tucker
Illustrators: Peter and Maria Hoey

This special report was made possible with the generous support of
the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

What Bill Clinton Learned from Jim Hunt and Why It Still Matters

It was a beautiful North Carolina spring day in 2000 at the governor’s mansion in Raleigh, and Governor Jim Hunt was sprinting down the giant ruby-red stairs. I was his then-young press aide, and we were running late because he had been on the phone with President Bill Clinton. Naively, I noted something about their discussing a state issue. Without missing a beat, the governor said of Clinton, his fellow Democrat, “I was telling him what he was doing wrong with the country and how to fix it!” So began my real education in politics, which I was quickly learning…

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by Adam Shapiro December 23, 2025December 23, 2025