CALIFORNIA EDUCATORS CALL FOR DUNCAN RESIGNATION

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.cta.org/en/Blog/2014/July/CA-NBI-Duncan-Resignation.aspx

"US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan once again showed his lack of understanding of education law and policy, his disregard of the true challenges facing our students and schools, and his disrespect for the hard-working educators in our schools and colleges across the country when he showed support for the flawed Vergara v. State of California verdict.

Because of his ongoing lack of effective leadership and advocacy on what is really needed to help our schools succeed, the California delegation to the NEA Representative Assembly has submitted a New Business Item calling for Duncan's resignation.

His department's failed education agenda has focused on more high-stakes testing, grading and pitting public school children against each other based on test scores, and promoting policies and decisions that undermine public schools and colleges, the teaching profession, education professionals and education unions.

Since the beginning, Duncan’s department has been led by graduates of the Broad Academy, Education Trust-West and other organizations determined to scapegoat teachers and their unions. Most recently, some of these former Obama administration staffers announced a national campaign attacking educators’ rights.

Authentic education change only comes when all stakeholders – teachers, parents, administrators and the community – work together to best meet the needs of the students in their school or college. Teachers are not the problem. Teachers are part of the solution. And it’s time we have a Secretary of Education who understands and believes that."

[msongs]

1. good for them, fighting back against the obama administration privatization plans nt

[montanacowboy]

2. Damn straight!

about time, Duncan has got to go along with all the stupid and misguided Obama education policies

it makes me sick to see what has become of the Dept of Education under this administration

[rhett o rick]

3. I am totally flabbergasted that a Democratic President would choose someone

that the Republicans would love so much. Mr. Duncan is a good example of how the DEmocratic Party has been contaminated with Demorcrats in Name Only. We must support progressive candidates and get these DINO's out of our party.

[markmyword]

4. Duncan Has to Go!

I hope other teacher unions join California demanding Duncan's resignation. Who needs all that testing? So much time is wasted teaching to the test,and taking practice tests.This is is all valuable teaching time wasted.
Districts now have bought tons of common core materials for the teacher to use in the classroom. This is wasted money the district could use to hire teachers. Classroom sizes have increased to 27 students or more.
The companies producing all the tests are making TONS of money.
Arnie Duncan really wants to close public schools and have charter schools.
What a joke, public schools are held to a high level of accountability and charter schools get money( that should go to the public schools), and they have no accountability!

Duncan should resign NOW!

[progressoid]

5. +1

[Ed Suspicious]

7. Teachers are creative professionals who deserve the autonomy to educate kids in the way they see fit

The diversity of teaching styles and approaches to subject matter that I see in college is what we should be exposed to in high school. Seeing different teachers teach in different ways is amazing. Learning about history though my literature classes or humanities classes embeds important historical concepts into my mind in a way that no history text book ever could. Standardized education is a wrongheaded approach if you ask me. I want kids to learn a love of learning and to know how to learn as they go forward. I couldn't give much of a shit less about standard questions built to assess a common core curriculum. Teach my kids to read, write, and do some math, then teach them myriad ways to go about learning the rest so they can discover the best way they learn what is important to them and their lives. I want them to be able to apply the taught techniques of learning. Regurgitation is a waste of time.

[delrem]

8. It took THIS long?? WTF? nt

[Starry Messenger]

11. I thought that at first too.

But I think many teachers wanted to give this administration the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible.

But Duncan applauding the Vergara decision was pretty much a declaration of open warfare, rather than his usual passive aggressive snit fits.

[vlakitti]

9. We need to get rid of Duncan

Thanks for this posting. Duncan's really terrible and should have no place in a progressive administration.

A classic indictment:

"His department's failed education agenda has focused on more high-stakes testing, grading and pitting public school children against each other based on test scores, and promoting policies and decisions that undermine public schools and colleges, the teaching profession, education professionals and education unions."

Good for the California teachers and their union.

[Ka hrnt]

12. Minor correction...

"Duncan's really terrible and should have no place in a progressive administration. "

I think that should be,
"Duncan's really terrible and should have no place in education."

[ReRe]

10. K&R

Needs to be splashed all over this country. After I seen what he said the other day about testing special needs kids more, someone needs to do something to get PO's attention for God's sake. I just can't fathom what Arne Duncan did in Chicago that impressed PO so damn much. Duncan's a business man, not dedicated education leader. You can tell it from the smirk you catch on his face sometimes in photo ops.

[Jake2413]

13. I can support that....