A parent in California drafted a letter to President Obama. This could serve as a template for other parents.
Some parents worry about the negative effects of high-stakes testing on their children. Others are upset that their community is being torn apart by battles with charter operators. Others are upset by class size or budget cuts.
Please send us your email by October 17.
Write your views and join our campaign to collect the maximum number of emails and letters in the next 10 days. Anthony Cody will collect them, will combine them with emails to my blog, and submit them to the White House on October 18.
Education Secy Arne Duncan is scheduled to be on the Diane Rehm show on Tuesday 9 October. It is a call in show, in case readers wish to multiply the effect of our efforts.
He will say all the right things. But they will differ from what he is doing.
It doesn’t cost us anything to call in and email and tweet the show with our views to balance what he says. We don’t have the money of the billionaire boys’ club!
I was surprised to read that he sends his children to public school in Virginia, unlike Rahm and the President who send their children to private school. He thinks Salman Khan’s educational videos are great. Salman Khan does not agree with using test scores to assess teachers. At least Salman Khan recognizes that sorting students by birth year is junk science. Arne Duncan doesn’t seem to recognize that and blames the problems with the structure of the education system on “lazy teachers”.
Arne should evaluate himself. His Rennaisance 2000 movement in Chicago was nothing to boast about, but he still got this job. It appears his athletic abilities were more important than his success in the education reform industry. If only they held themselves to high standards…he should be embarrassed to have this job.
The hypocrisy of saying one thing to one audience and stating the opposite to another audience on any given day is not restricted to Mitt Romney or Michelle Rhee. For some strange reason this habit of blatantly misinforming people has become the norm for many public officials.
Arne needs to be called on it – in no uncertain terms.
By the way… Dump Duncan http://dumpduncan.org/
A womderful parent letter. Can’t wait to see more.