Good to see an administrator speak out at AJC about Arne's policies.

[madfloridian]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025175021

Education seems to have entered its own Bizarro World with Arne Duncan’s policies and beliefs. President Obama’s appointee to head the U.S. Department of Education, second only to Bill Gates as the most powerful force in US educational policy, believes strongly in the Bizarro theory of educational improvement; whatever research says, do the opposite.

....In the category of “you can’t make this stuff up,” Duncan recently noted the performance of special education students in several states was not meeting his lofty expectations. His solution, again meeting Bizarro requirements, was to raise expectations and subject SPED students to more standardized testing by using National Assessment of Educational Progress as an indicator of their progress.

Even though NAEP was not designed to measure this, Bizarro reasoning says it’s OK because “it’s the best we have.” Parents of students with a learning disability will be happy to know their concerns, fears and worries can be erased with the amazing combination of higher expectations and more testing. Who knew?

...If standardized testing were an effective measure of teacher performance and student academic achievement, why haven’t private schools and post -secondary institutions jumped on the bandwagon so their students would not, so to speak, be left behind. That there is no such groundswell seems to indicate the benefits of standardized testing presented by accountabullies in the name of accountabalism only accrue to public school students.

Isn’t it a shame that the children of those making the rules almost always attend schools exempt from those policies?

Probably will disappear in GD, which is a more merciful fate than some of my other posts went through.

[msongs]

1. Duncan is just doing what his boss wants him to do. nt

[madfloridian]

3. Yes.

He is.

[Ka hrnt]

7. His (and Obama's) boss being Pearson, apparently....

n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Duncan is dangerous. nt

[madfloridian]

4. Agreed completely

[femmocrat]

5. That is just so insulting.

Does he really think that special education teachers do NOT have high expectations already? He must think they give the kids comic books and coloring pages and leave them to their own devices all day.

What a total jackass. With apologies to jackasses.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. The more know-nothing pols and their appointees "push in"....

... to enlist an "industry" term long used in sp ed... the less possible it's going to be to actually, you know, *teach*.

Speaking of Bizarro World: when is the word "reform", the dead OPPOSITE of *actual* reform?

I guess whenever anyone in DC uses it in connection to education.

A tragedy, what they've done to the language.

Among so many other tragedies.

[Starry Messenger]

8. CTA just voted a resolution to demand Arne's resignation.

Kind of late in the game, but nice to see some movement.

[madfloridian]

11. Good for them.

I wish FL teachers would fight back more, but there is no more tenure here for anyone new since 2011. They are fearful of losing their jobs.

[Jakes Progress]

9. Did you post this in GD

and have it moved?

[madfloridian]

10. It's still there.

Pretty much disappeared.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025175021

[Jakes Progress]

12. Even sadder.

If it was just DU leadership avoiding the education issue, that would be bad. But if this kind of news doesn't generate discussion on a site like DU, our children have no chance. republicans attack education, Democrats (mostly) ignore it. It seems to be a toy they can give to republicans because - you know - who cares?