What schools did U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visit last Friday?
For those unfamiliar with the name Arne Duncan, he is the current U.S. Secretary of Education, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. According to his resume, Duncan has had extensive experience in the development of education policy and served eight years as the CEO of Chicago Public Schools. However, Duncan has never been a teacher, counselor or school site administrator. As a result, I am extremely skeptical of his ability to understand the challenges and constraints of local issues. One of the secretary’s most important tasks will be the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. In a previous column, I stated: The federal government instituted the No Child Left Behind legislation, which examines student achievement, provides a status category based on that achievement and if the “school’s” achievement is consistently insufficient, imposes sanctions. In fact, the punitive nature of NCLB and the absence of a targeted focus on real student reform and change, se
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who visited several Baltimore schools Friday, is using stimulus money as a carrot to get states to voluntarily agree to a school agenda that goes far beyond former attempts to raise achievement under No Child Left Behind. In the guidelines released this week, Duncan made it clear that states will be competitive only if they provide a friendly environment for charter and innovative schools, are serious about changing how teachers and principals are trained and evaluated, and are willing to adopt a set of common national standards by August. You can read more at the link below. Sources: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-md.funds14nov14,0,423241.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who visited several Baltimore schools Friday, is using this stimulus money as a carrot to get states to voluntarily agree to a school agenda that goes far beyond former attempts to raise achievement under No Child Left Behind. In the guidelines released this week, Duncan made it clear that states will be competitive only if they provide a friendly environment for charter and innovative schools, are serious about changing how teachers and principals are trained and evaluated, and are willing to adopt a set of common national standards by August. Sources: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-md.funds14nov14,0,423241.
