Fred Klonsky writes that in 2007, the Chicago Tribune praised CEO Arne Duncan because he would not be content with principals drawn from the ranks. not Arne! He was looking for superstar principals. Duncan was CEO because he lacked the experience as a teacher or a principal to be a superintendent.
The Tribune singled out one of Duncan’s “superstars”: Terrence P. Carter.
““Used to be, as long as the lights were on and the heat was working and teachers reported to school, your job as principal was basically done,” said Terrence Carter, principal of Clara Barton Elementary School in Chicago’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. “Now, in the age of more accountability, there’s a paradigm shift for what skills principals need to have.”
“For Carter, who also attended that day, the training reviewed skills he already knew. Carter represents a new breed of principal, many of whom recently entered the profession from the business world through a selective principal training program called New Leaders for New Schools. In that program, prospective principals focus on becoming academic leaders and conducting rigorous evaluations of teachers, students and curricula.
“That’s the challenge and the opportunity for Chicago: to draw dozens more leaders like Terrence Carter into the most challenging public schools and to help them thrive.”
Klonsky writes:
“Carter is now the center of controversy in New London, Connecticut where his application for school superintendent is on hold while the board investigates his claims of a doctorate from among other universities, Stanford University in California.
“Stanford denies he received a doctorate from them.
“Prior to applying for the job in New London, Carter worked as a principal for CPS and as an executive director for the Academy for Urban School Leadership. AUSL is responsible for managing most of CPS turnaround schools.
“CPS board president David Vitale and chief administrative officer Tim Cawley both come from the ranks of AUSL.”
Yet, Klonsky writes, the Chicago Tribune has not seen fit to report about Arne Duncan’s superstar, and Duncan has no comment.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I jut did an analysis of a three year old interview with Duncan, which shows how hard it is to get a straight answer out of him:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/atlanta-cheating-scandal-_n_892169.html
Check out this video of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan answering questions in the immediate aftermath of the Atlanta cheating scandal. Notice the answers… or rather NON-answers that Duncan gives to what he is asked by this Atlanta TV reporter (who, by the way, does an awesome job hitting Duncan with tough questions).
For example, she asks a simple “YES” or “NO” question, meaning that, after the question has been asked, the first word out of Duncan’s mouth should be either “YES” or “NO”, followed by more detail and clarification… as in, for example…
“Yes, and let me tell you why… ”
or
“No, that’s not the case, and here’s why… ”
DUNCAN doesn’t do that, instead spewing double-talk.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
01:05 – 01:25
REPORTER: “What’s your position on testing? Is there too much emphasis on the standardized testing?”
ARNE DUNCAN: “Well, what you want to do is you want to make sure you’re evaluating students each year, but the way to get good results is through good teaching, and when you cheat… you… again, you do grave, grave harm to children, and so there’s a right way to do it, and the vast majority of folks around the country do it the right way.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Huh??? WTF??? Where’s the “YES” or “NO”?
If she had asked him, “What’s the key to getting good results on standardized testing? What’s the right way?” … then the answer would be responsive.
The obvious conclusion that people were making back in 2011 (and still are three years later) is that the over-emphasis on standardized testing results and the punishment-rewards (monetary or otherwise) meted out based on these results DID contribute to the fiasco in Atlanta. However, Duncan—following his corporate masters’ marching orders—wants to shut that idea or thought process down.
Check out the next question and Duncan’s non-answer:
————————————————-
01:25 – 01:41
REPORTER: “Some people have been critical all along of No Child Left Behind and the testing portions of this. Umm, how fair is that criticism?”
DUNCAN: “Well, we want to fix the No Child Left Behind Law. That’s a much longer conversation, and we’re working very hard in Congress to do… to do that now.”
————————————————-
Again… W-T-F? His response is that he wants to “fix” NCLB. Well, exactly WHAT about NCLB do you want to “fix”? For Duncan’s answer to be responsive to the question, he must then address criticism of “the testing portions” that the reporters’ question references… the “portions” that create the breeding ground for cheating scandals like the ones in Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere…. and Duncan ain’t doing that.
The reporter is pushing Duncan to admit that all this test-based evaluating/punishing/rewarding is harmful, but he responds with pointless blather about how “we’re working very hard in Congress to do that now.”
Really?… “to do WHAT now”? You meant that politicians and education officials should “fix the testing portions” that are harming education and harming kids?
Again, no answer.
The reporter then questions whether, in urban areas with so many challenging factors teachers have to fight, that demanding “unrealistic” results led to the cheating problem, that when asked to do the impossible, teachers who are threatened with firing for not achieving the impossible, will then be driven to cheat. (which is the conclusion one gets from reading Rachel Aviv’s NEW YORKER article.)
This is another great question, by the way. Kudos to the reporter!
Again, Duncan totally ducks this query. He challenges those doubters who think that the NCLB benchmarks were “unrealistic” that they are the ones in the wrong, that he is “seeing students learn every single year”
This is his version of the Michelle Rhee diversionary response to evidence of cheating: “You must be racist to think that poor, minority kids can’t learn.”
————————————————-
01:41 – 02:14
REPORTER: “But, but the whole idea of unrealistic measurements… something for urban districts, et cetera… Is that – ?”
ARNE DUNCAN: “I don’t think there is anything ‘unrealistic’ about seeing students learn every single year, and you have in many urban areas tremendous progress being made. The sad fact is that I actually think in Atlanta there’s probably tremendous progress being made… fairly… and unfortunately, this, this… scandal is going to cloud that… ummm…. but this does not in any way take away from shouldn’t take away from the hard work, and the accomplishments, and the improved graduation rates that we’re seeing in many urban districts around the country.”
—————————————————-
Let’s move on to the next question, about the idea that Atlanta school district’s monetary incentives helped create the problem. This is the closest he gets to being responsive to the question being asked.
He says that monetary incentives ARE NOT ONLY GOOD for education, but that we should have started doing them long before now.
Oh really?
The only problem with Arne’s claim is…. the overwhelming evidence shows that…
THESE MONETARY INCENTIVES DO NOT WORK.
THESE MONETARY INCENTIVES HAVE NEVER WORKED.
THESE MONETARY INCENTIVES WILL NEVER WORK.
All the decades of evidences show that not only do they not improve education; they actually do grave harm to it.
But hey, Arne thinks we should keep trying anyway, so we’re just going to have to be stuck with more of it. At the end of his spiel, he vomits up the idea that using monetary incentives is “not a hard thing to do”, that you just “have to do it with integrity.”
Really? “Not a hard thing to do”?
Then how come it has NEVER worked, that historically, doing so has an utter and total failure rate?
Duncan thinks we should “spotlight” and “celebrate” good teachers and principals… with monetary rewards (the next question BEL0W).
Duncan’s assumption is that prior to, or without those rewards to push them, teachers will or are holding back their “A Game”, and not giving it their best effort… and that with monetary rewards, they’ll get off their duff and do the job they should have been doing all along.
This comes from a man who has never taught a day in his life, or worked as a principal a day in his life, for if he had, he’d know that this is all total garbage.
————————————————–
02:14 – 03:02
REPORTER: “Should… a lot of this is about money, I think, you know, that both teachers and principals are evaluated by their test scores of their students, and there’s a lot of money involved in this. Should that be decoupled from student learning?”
ARNE DUNCAN: “Well, I think rewarding teacher excellence is important. I think I would argue the opposite, that far too often in our country, we haven’t celebrated great teachers, we haven’t celebrated great principals who are making a huge difference in students’ lives. You just want to make sure that they’re doing it honestly, and again, the vast vast majority of teachers are doing an amazing job, often in very difficult circumstances, in helping students beat the odds every single day.
“I think we need to do a better job of spotlighting that, and incentivizing that, and encouraging that, and learning from that. In education, we’ve been far too reluctant to talk about success. We need to do that. We just need to make sure that we’re doing it with integrity…. not that hard to do.”
———————————————————–
The reporter finishes with a questions about one of the intangible ways that this harms education and society as a whole. She gets personal and talks about how this cheating scandal has taken away her “last heroes”, the teachers, and on and on.
I’m sick and tired of transcribing this words of this vile person (Duncan, not the reporter, whom I admire)… so, if you want to, you can watch her ask this last question, and the entire video here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/atlanta-cheating-scandal-_n_892169.html
Perhaps the politicians should stop changing the laws that allow them to bring these con artists into the game.
Perhaps NON educators should be stopped and training places like the Supes school should be closed.
Perhaps having to actually have the credentials that go along with the positions, and no short cuts, no emergency certificates, etc. should be granted.
Perhaps the loopholes that TFA gets should be closed.
Perhaps the preferential treatment that these fools get should be stopped.
Perhaps out-of-state monies by Rhee’s donators, Broad, Walton, Koch, to buy elections should be stopped; create some laws that state that out of state donations are illegal.
Roll back whatever legislation allows the taking over of public education to stop.
Haven’t then done enough damage with their bogus Superintendents and Principals and Charters?
Exactly, well said! Hire the person with the most REAL’ credentials not the person with the most FAKE credentials!
Yes, but we’d also need to close the loophole Arne Duncan sailed through.
Previous generations of principals had credentials. They had taught actual children. They were involved in communities. Yes, they were political. They were literate and numerate. They could formulate letters sent out on school letterhead. They had degrees and certificates from real institutions of higher education.
When New London tires of “DR” Carter, please do not send him our way. We have a boatload of unqualified administrators on board.
Community involvement is critical. In the last 15 years or so I have seen administrators retire only to be replaced by newbies from neighboring counties who get in their cars and drive home every afternoon. They never move here and don’t know the families of the students or staff. They don’t go to church with them and don’t connect locally. It’s a job and nothing more. It makes a big difference to students if they know the person in charge knows them and their families. It’s a no-brainer and yet promoting from within seems to have gone out of fashion.
The “new breed of principal” in the world of Arnie Duncan, like himself, base their interviews on the use of three terms over and over again; data, technology, and accountability–that’s it—that do not have any background in curriculum and instruction and possess degrees from “cash cow”graduate administrative programs. Becoming a strong instructional leader (Jones, 2012) is a demanding personal journey which few principals are willing to enter: http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Strong-Instructional-Leader-Business/dp/0807753386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335271967&sr=1-1
Carter’s “used to be” regarding a principal’s job is nonsense. I have never known a principal to not put in long hours. Then again, I have never known a principal to fake a doctorate.
His “used to be” is absurd on the face. If that were the case, anyone who’s ever managed a McDonald’s could be a principal – the application lines would be out the doors. That one sentence should have disqualified him as a candidate for any serious position.
Yet another thing to dislike about Arne. Haven’t we gotten to the tipping point yet? He needs to go!
He’s not going anywhere his boss Obama doesn’t want him to go. It would be best if we start focusing on the next cabinet of the next president elect. Unfortunately, it seems like the options of that position seem equally hostile to public education as Obama and Duncan have been.
Tony–& that’s why I’ve been advising folks to stop putting so much stock in/giving so much (undeserved) credit to Hillary Clinton. If you doubt me, read Carl Bernstein’s book, “A Woman in Charge.”
Also, does this country REALLY need anymore people from CHICAGO (I’m sad to say) getting into national politics? (Or ANY other state politics, for that matter–NOLA, Philly, Connecticut…
good lord, it’s almost like the invasion/interference of the Koch Bros., Eli Broad, Emperor Bloomberg &/or Bill Gates!)
retiredbutmissthekids, (or anyone else who wants to answer) who is making noises about running for President that we should get behind?
Bernie Sanders? Elizabeth Warren? Russ Feingold?
And–my very personal favorite!–Al Grayson, Florida (if you’ve never read his newsletters, interviews, etc., you have GOT to).
As inestimable retired-teacher-Reclaim Reform blogger Ken Previti (FL) told me, “He’s the real deal.”
Time magazine infamously posted Michelle Rhee on its cover, with a broom, with the title, “How To Fix America’s Schools.”
The subtitle of that cover story stated that Rhee was engaged in a “battle against bad teachers” that could “transform public education.”
The cover story was written by the oh-so-talented (wink) Amanda Ripley, who is as much a charlatan as Wendy Kopp (and Michelle Rhee) and Arne Duncan.
To the best of my knowledge, Time has not published any retraction of that terrible cover story, nor has it published any cover story about the huge cheating scandal in the D.C. schools under Rhee’s “leadership.”
Such is the (sorry) state of mainstream media reports on public education.
Thanks. I didn’t know that. I read that piece and it was ridiculously fawning. Ripley probably doesn’t write the words on the cover, though, so we can’t blame her for that.
I read excerpts from the book (in the WSJ) and what I took away from it was middle class people with children in South Korea pay a big chunk of their household income towards propping up a private tutoring industry that operates alongside the school system, which is probably why they perform so well on standardized tests.
I don’t understand analysis that ignores or downplays that. There’s a huge amount of money flowing into that test prep system, and it’s coming out of family budgets. Should US parents adopt that? Well, I don’t know. Do we want a huge for-profit tutoring system that sucks still more money out of family budgets and would only increase inequality?
I don’t, particularly, but I guess she does.
Arne Duncan gave a speech to parents quoting her book and he forgot to tell the parents that they’ll be paying out of pocket for these test scores. I don’t think he read that book. How can you make a comparison that ignores out of pocket costs and pretends that this is a matter of “will” or “obsession with education”? They’re paying dearly for those scores.
Oh, yes–that was pretty unforgettable, & one of those “tough guy” (you know, arms crossed, frowning) poses the fawning press adores. Some funny publication (or person-?) doctored that photo–after the S.C. test cheating scandal was uncovered–replacing that broom w/a gigantic pencil, eraser end up! TAGO!
Have you see this? Time to sue Rhee for breach of contract http://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/so-where-are-all-those-increases-that-michelle-rhee-promised-in-writing/
The Trib is a shill for right-wing policy. MSM doesn’t seem to have any problems with placing poorly-qualified principals at the helm of a school. We know how’d they react if the services they relied on – physicians, airline pilots, etc. were just as poorly credentialed.
Why am I not surprised Arne Duncan doesn’t promote from within? That would take actual managerial skill and a commitment to slow sustainable gains and he wouldn’t be around to take personal credit for the improvement.
We got the worst parts of the private sector, we really did. The private sector ITSELF is not as horrible as public sector people pretending they work in the private sector.
“Used to be, as long as the lights were on and the heat was working and teachers reported to school, your job as principal was basically done,” said Terrence Carter, principal of Clara Barton Elementary School in Chicago’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. “Now, in the age of more accountability, there’s a paradigm shift for what skills principals need to have.”
That’s what I always do when I start a new job, too. I insult everyone that ever held the job before me and assume I can learn nothing from anyone.
I don’t even think they hear how they sound, ed reformers, I really don’t. Who talks about people like this? What is the point of denigrating everyone who holds that job or has held that job?
I note they’ve moved from using “superstars” in 2007 to “rockstars” in 2014 to describe their own “movement”, also, so it’s getting worse.
I have worked for a principal who came
from the ranks of social worker. She attended the Leadership Program at the Bank Street School of Education for people from other fields entering teaching. As a principal she knew nothing about teaching or classroom management. She interfered with so many things that after 2 years many teachers began leaving the school and district. Her leadership was nonexistent. She had nothing to offer new teachers or older teachers who could have improved their management in the classroom. What a complete farce.
‘Used to be, as long as the lights were on and the heat was working and teachers reported to school, your job as principal was basically done,” — Terrence Charter
“To be used”
The lights are on
But no one’s home
The Doctor’s in
But has no phone
The cheater’s in
The Office room
The school can’t win
Their fate is doom
Having taught from 1974-2010 (& having been a student during the ’50s & ’60s), the overwhelming majority of principals I had/worked for were the hardest-working, most caring & concerned (& knew ALL their students names!) and dedicated people I’d had the pleasure and privilege of knowing. Terence Carter only describes himself and his attitude toward his principal “job” (& I put that in quotes, because it wasn’t a job for him–it was some leisure activity paying him a lot of ka-ching for doing…nothing.
Arne incenses me, but Carter is even more repulsive (if that’s even possible). Schools across the country need to file restraining orders against him–he should not be permitted within 100′ (or more!) of ANY school building (or ANY building where children are present!).