Obama's education secretary a cheerleader for failed GOP education ''reforms''

[yurbud]

It is one thing to use the amoral methods of corporate America on adults who volunteer to work for those businesses, but it seems especially ugly to apply that brand of snake oil to our kids education.

The problem with Duncan is not party affiliation. The problem is education philosophy. And Duncan is a Bush baby through and through, a card-carrying supporter of the program best called, "No Child's Behind Left."

At the heart of the program is testing. And more testing. Testing instead of teaching. When tests go badly, the solution is to push the low-test-score kids to drop out of school. If triage isn't enough, then attack their teachers.

Here's how Duncan operates this Bush program in Chicago at Collins High in the Lawndale ghetto. Teachers there work with kids from homeless shelters from an economically devastated neighborhood. Believe it or not, the kids don't get high test scores. So Chicago fired the teachers, every one of them. Then they brought in new teachers and fired THEM too when, surprise!, test scores still didn't rise.

The reward for a teacher volunteering for a tough neighborhood is to get harassed, blamed and fired. Now THAT'S a brilliant program, Mr. Duncan. But Duncan's own failures have not gotten HIM fired. As long as his 20-foot jumpshot holds, he's Mr. Secretary.

In no other cabinet department is the lack of expertise, lack of accomplishment, lack of a degree in the field found acceptable but in Education.

http://www.gregpalast.com/update-obama-slam-duncans-education/">FULL TEXT

[w4rma]

1. Obama's new Secretary of Education is as bad as anyone Bush would have appointed. (nt)

[spiritual_gunfighter]

4. I think it's much worse

Because you expect Bush to appoint someone that is not qualified and a champion of his failed No Child Left Behind. But I expect better from Obama. Well at least Obama can keep his hoops partner.

[ixion]

2. I'm still waiting for the change...

I've been largely unimpressed with the 'team' Obama has built thus far.

[MessiahRp]

5. 110% agree with you

All of these guys are right leaning "centrists" who offer zero in the way of actual change and will follow a complete "more of the same" line of bullshit for us to have to swallow.

Rp

[madrchsod]

3. our best friend taught at a school in chicago

where kids were dumped if they failed tests. instead of having several schools in her district fail there was just one. the school she`s teaching at now is closing this spring and she`s moving back home. she has tried to find another teaching job within a 100+ miles of chicago for two years and can find nothing. 7 years experience with a masters in education and music...

academies,gifted,and magnet schools are the best in chicago.

[slipslidingaway]

6. Some interesting posts here...

scroll down towards the bottom for these posts.

http://savecollinshs.blogspot.com/


True Lies

"So if test scores and academic achievement are not the real reasons for the proposed closing of George W. Collins High School then what is? Better get the Real Estate section from your Chicago Tribune, because the answer lies in property values, and in the ever-menacing, ever-growing "G" word: gentrification.

Any fool with two eyes can look across the street from Collins High School and see the initial work being done on gut re-hab condominiums lining the west side of Douglas Park. Condominiums which well sell for over $300,000, a price tag way beyond the means of the families that have lived, worked, and died in this community, called North Lawndale, for the past 30 years...


...The city planners are not stupid, they know which direction the wind is blowing, and what underachieving inner-city high school stands smack dab in the middle of their expansion. Deny the school freshmen now, completely remove the student body by 2009 and in 2010 city leaders will be able to present a brand new charter school (sponsored by the big business of the moment) with, no doubt, updated facilities, to entice more "desirable" families to move back to the west side. If you are not yet convinced, and consider me run amok with conspiracy theory, then take a minute to examine for yourself who owns several buildings within walking distance of Collins High School. You will find that the answer is none other than Chicago Public Schools President Michael Scott. How convenient that he gets to "close a failing school" and pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars off a subsequent increase in the property values of each of those buildings that he owns. Education warrior? Education crook.


Punching Holes in the Board's Argument

The best idea in opening any debate is to first acknowledge your opponent's argument and then state clearly and with evidence why your opponent is wrong. This is the intention of this post.

The Chicago Board of Education has stated through its own leadership, and Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan that George W. Collins High School was selected for the proposed closing because of a history of low test scores and no growth....


...Therefore we would like to take a minute to present the actual numbers which represent us:


Our state test scores have risen 1 percentage point each year for three years a row. From 7% at or above standards in 2003 to 9.3% in 2005

Our ACT scores have risen for 4 years in a row. Our students currently have an average ACT of 14.6 our highest score since 2001.

Our attendance has held steady, while we have increased our graduation rate, and decreased chronic truancy

Our reading scores have steadily grown from 14% at or above state standards in 2001 to 21% currently

Collins High School has decreased its incident reports (cataloguing fights, crime, school vandalism, etc.) over the past two years, and Maggie Daley, wife of Mayor Richard Daley, marveled at the school's cleanliness and said it was the most organized she had seen it in years..."

[mopinko]

7. can we have some kind of limit on how many times the same bullshit article

gets posted? this thing has been posted several times a day since arne duncan's name was first mentioned. i respect greg palast, but really, he should stick to what he knows. and to the best of my knowledge, he has never even set foot in chicago. he sure the fuck doesn't know what he is talking about here.
and the blog up thread about collins high school- is that really considered acceptable performance? a tiny fraction of kids who can pass a math and reading test? gentrification? yes, the city planners do look at keeping people in the city. people with some money, who can pay taxes? yes. do you know why people fled to the suburbs? schools. do you know how many of them do it now? they don't. people are moving back to the city.

i am tired of trying to slap down this shit. it is shit. i live in chicago. my kids go to school in chicago. DH and i have been on parent committees in our local school for the last 6 years. this is a different system than it was 15 years ago, when i wouldn't even put my kids in it. the chicago archdiocese schools are closing left and right, because desperate parents don't have to send their kids there any more.
are teachers in failing schools fired? hell yes and it is about time.
bullshit. sorry greg. bullshit. can you people at least find another article to post about chicago schools? there are a ton of them out there. things that make you go hmmmm.