Karen Wolfe, blogger and public school parent in Los Angeles, watched a CNN town hall discussion last week and saw a gentleman ask a question about K-12 education. Since none of the candidates has said much about education, this was an opportunity to get the candidate’s views.
The fellow said that he was a school principal who had introduced longer school days and got results. He asked Hillary Clinton what she thought of longer school days.
Karen did some digging and learned that the questioner was principal of an online charter school. Longer school days? What baloney! Kids log on whenever they wish and no one knows who is taking the tests. And study after study shows these online schools get poor results. They have high attrition, low test scores, low graduation rates, low-paid teachers. They are the quintessence of corporate reform. High profits for worse education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
He was probably a plant.
I had the same thought.
It’s Clinton’s MO.
Her entire campaign — like here life (except for the things she has no control eg, Bill and his Monicas) — is carefully scripted.
Hillary mentioned schools as one of her first remarks after her SC victory. Later in the speech she praised teachers.
Can we use a behavioral reward/response method by giving her so much praise for praising teachers that she finally allows it to become her mantra? Can we hope to get Hillary to take us from Obama’s obsession with “bad” teachers to a Clinton presidency where teachers can come back out into the light?
ciedie aech, that is exactly how to engage with candidates. We praise them when they say something we want to hear and we call them out when they say something we oppose. That is how we common folks help shape their platform. I’m afraid though, that many education activists are more concerned with calling out conspiracies than with helping to shape education policy.
I saw this exchange on tv. He introduced himself as a Principal of a charter school. In her response she mentioned that there should be fewer tests. She said she was only in favor of lengthening school days and years for disadvantaged students.
I meant the academic year.
This “Principal’s” commitment to education is humbling and inspiring.
Good work, Karen.
Love your sarcasm, Geronimo.
Very interesting that he was an online charter school principal! He is in no way able to say that his school was able to implement longer hours! How can he say this when he isn’t even sure who is taking the tests, completing the assignments etc? Not to mention the outside help some students may be using when they take assessments. This is the epitome of the issues we have in our education system because people like this man feel that they know the best way to educate when in reality they don’t!