Back-to-School Special: Arne Duncan Goes Off Script
As a new school year begins, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan plans to use waivers to rewrite parts of the nation's signature federal education law, whose reauthorization has been stalled in Congress. Meanwhile, states are struggling to meet their ambitious Race to the Top goals as they look for ways to cut spending. I sat down with the former head of the Chicago school system to talk about these issues as well as how he pressured the Iowa governor not to cut his state's pre-kindergarten program and set a low bar for the academic side of college athletics.
Let's start with your plan to issue waivers to allow states more flexibility around parts of No Child Left Behind. What should we expect?
A high bar. Maintaining accountability, high expectations, doing creative stuff around teacher and principal evaluation, and looking at under-performing schools — the trade-off for that high bar is a lot more autonomy and a lot more flexibility [for states and schools].
How do you respond to critics who say that linking waivers to conditions [such as improving teacher evaluations or data systems] goes beyond the authority you have under the law?
Secretary Spellings had waiver authority and used it. We're doing the same thing, and we're absolutely confident in our legal authority. I know not everyone in Congress is thrilled, but I've talked to 45 or 46 governors, almost every governor, Republican, Democrat, everyone is saying, "At least someone in Washington is listening to the real world." Haley Barbour in Mississippi said, "Thank God someone is listening." There isn't one governor saying, "I'm not interested" or "Why are you doing this?"
I hope this will be a bridge or transition to reauthorization [of the No Child law]. I wish we would have gotten there, hasn't happened yet, but I hope it will. But it would be the height of arrogance and tone-deafness to just sit here and do nothing when you have a law that simply isn't working for children, their schools, and teachers.
Arne Duncan And Special Education - News
25, 2011 As a new school year begins, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan plans to use waivers to rewrite parts of the nation's signature federal education law, whose reauthorization has been stalled in Congress. Meanwhile, states are struggling to meet
“Relief is needed immediately before more schools suffer for another school year under inappropriate labels and ineffective interventions,” Torlakson wrote in a letter to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In his letter, Torlakson said 80 percent
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Back-to-School Special: Arne Duncan Goes Off Script (Time.com ...
As a new school year begins, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan plans to use waivers to rewrite parts of the nation’s signature federal education law, whose reauthorization has been stalled in Congress. Meanwhile, states are struggling to meet their ambitious Race to the Top goals as they look for ways to cut spending. I sat down with the former head of the Chicago school system to talk about these issues as well as how he pressured the Iowa governor not to cut his state’s pre-kindergarten program and set a low bar for the academic side of college athletics.
Let’s start with your plan to issue waivers to allow states more flexibility around parts of No Child Left Behind. What should we expect?
A high bar. Maintaining accountability, high expectations, doing creative stuff around teacher and principal evaluation, and looking at under-performing schools – the trade-off for that high bar is a lot more autonomy and a lot more flexibility [for states and schools].
How do you respond to critics who say that linking waivers to conditions [such as improving teacher evaluations or data systems] goes beyond the authority you have under the law?
Secretary Spellings had waiver authority and used it. We’re doing the same thing, and we’re absolutely confident in our legal authority. I know not everyone in Congress is thrilled, but I’ve talked to 45 or 46 governors, almost every governor, Republican, Democrat, everyone is saying, “At least someone in Washington is listening to the real world.” Haley Barbour in Mississippi said, “Thank God someone is listening.” There isn’t one governor saying, “I’m not interested” or “Why are you doing this?”
I hope this will be a bridge or transition to reauthorization [of the No Child law]. I wish we would have gotten there, hasn’t happened yet, but I hope it will. But it would be the height of arrogance and tone-deafness to just sit here and do nothing when you have a law that simply isn’t working for children, their schools, and teachers.