Mercedes Schneider penned a plea to President-Elect Joe Biden, urging him to appoint a career teacher as his Secretary of Education.
She writes:
It is about time for someone with seasoned K12 classroom experience to hold that position. Not someone with ladder-climbing, token K12 classroom experience. Not someone who is a basketball playing pal of his buddy, the president (aka Arne Duncan). And not someone who is an activist for private schools and who admitted publicly to “not intentionally visiting schools that are underperforming” (that, of course, would be DeVos).
I am tired of being tossed to and fro by ill-conceived education platforms that chain America’s education be-all, end-all to standardized test scores. And that is why I believe a seasoned K12 classroom teacher needs to be the next US ed sec: A seasoned K12 classroom teacher knows the sting of the idiocy of standardized testing firsthand. The foolishness of trying to gauge the value of American education via test score is not an intellectual exercise to a seasoned K12 classroom teacher. It is not theoretical. It is not removed. It is a frustrating reality stretching across school years and decades.
The genuine, career K12 classroom teacher knows firsthand the stupidity of wasting time, money, and personnel pretending that grading schools and teachers using standardized tests somehow informs teachers, parents, and the public about the quality of the multifaceted educational life of a school and its students.
We need to break free of this testing prison, and we need an experienced K12 classroom advocate in our US secretary of education. Not an ideologue. Not a dictator. Not a politician. Not even a higher-ed academic.
An advocate. With. Career. K12. Experience.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why not just abolish the Department of Education?
I’m with you! If Jimmy Carter knew how it would morph into what it has become, I think he wouldn’t have created the Department. I think it’s good parts could be meted out to other Departments to make sure that States are doing what they are supposed to be doing for ALL children. There should not be so much federal involvement in state education….even if federal funds are earmarked for education.
You don’t need a Department of Education to disburse Title I funds.
Didn’t it used to be the department of Health, Education and Welfare? The key thing, though, is to have people in place wherever they are who are dedicated public education professionals who know what a classroom looks like because they have run one.
Few of those who work in the ED department are educators. They process grant applications, oversee programs, evaluate proposal, do bureaucratic work, and adhere to the philosophy or dictates or policies of the Secretary.
So we need someone who understands public education and teaching in a leadership role.
I completely agree— and already shared her blog post on my FB this am. But I did add that you, Diane or someone like Jo Boaler, would be very fine choices as well! 😃😉
According to Politico, his current top choices for Secretary of Ed. include Lily Eskelson Garcia, Randi Weingarten and Linda Darling-Hammond. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/07/joe-biden-cabinet-picks-possible-choices-433431
Randi and LD-H have very limited classroom experience. Randi, trained as a lawyer, has made a living as a union leader at the local and national level.
Despite little work with kids, Darling-Hammond has built a career as a consultant–specializing in teacher credentialing and preparation with many articles and books on this particular subject. She is a well-known speaker (for a fee) who has made a name for herself outside of the classroom.
Randi and LD-H might best serve as advisors to Joe Biden’s search committee as it identifies the most qualified person to be his Secretary of Education
That short blurb is encouraging. I’m on pins and needles with regards to the Department of Education.
I think choosing a union leader would be a too politically polarizing choice. Linda Darling-Hammond has been a teacher, and she is a scholar. I know that equity in education has been one of her key issues. She certainly has the background to do the job well.
We need a practitioner–not speech makers. Not refugees from the classroom who left the blackboards as soon as they could to leave the ranks of teaching for a higher slot in the education hierarchy.
Actual experience in schools working with students and families directly makes for authority and should be given the highest weight in determining who is best qualified to be SOE
I’m afraid Linda Darling-Hammond is too cozy with the Standards Movement crowd.
There are several possible excellent candidates including Mercedes Schneider. What we do not need is anyone selected by DFER.
DFER connection or endorsement should be disqualifying!
No LDH or Randi for me.
While she was a teacher for a number of years, Lily has essentially ignored her home state of Utah ever since she because president of NEA, NEVER speaking out as funding was systematically decimated by the Utah legislature.
And the UEA (Utah Education Association) just endorsed a referendum (that passed) to take money from education to other services, because the legislature “promised” that education money wouldn’t be reduced (which is a lie).
NEA is NOT a supportive organization and Lily shouldn’t be rewarded for kissing up (and encouraging the affiliates) to kiss up to power.
PLEASE, NOOOOO!!! (But not surprised.)
What is a K12 teacher? Would an early childhood teacher count (K-2)?; elementary school teacher (1-5); middle school teacher (6-8/9); high school (9-12)?
What about a great gym teacher, shop teacher or art teacher? Are you ruling out successful principals and skilled school administrators? Anyone with a combination of teaching and supervisory experience?
I agree with you that someone with only token classroom experience on their career ladder should disqualify possible candidates. Also agree that anyone who has gone along with testing insanity should be ruled out. That is a litmus test (no pun intended).
I’d rather say we need an EDUCATOR from the public school sector–to be the next SOE.
Makes sense to me. If I recall correctly, Gov. Northam of VA put in a teacher as the head of his state’s education department. Can any of our friends in VA enlighten us on how that’s going?
And with the exception of privatized and so-called public charters, principals always have classroom experience, the best ones usually with a lot.
Greg,
Another exception to principals having classroom experience: During the tenure of Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein in NYC, these two corporate guys sought to hire principals with little or no experience in the classroom.
I think it’s harder to find principals in some areas and there are educators with little classroom experience getting their credentials and being hired because they speak “data speak” – a language requirement in some districts. So I wouldn’t assume a principal has classroom experience or is pro-teacher.
Good points all and further retrospective evidence that my short teaching career was idyllic.
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” . . . those with one or two years in the classroom, who leave for administrative jobs or education related jobs in the private sector may not have the same insight into the classroom. And professionals who work in schools but never have the weight of a full classroom, 6 hours a day, with the accountability of learning goals and targets, can have a different perspective as well. Working with children one-on-one, small group….. or even whole group without the pressure of teaching academics, is a whole different perspective than that of a classroom teacher.
Lily Eskelson Garcia was a lunch lady, a classroom aid and then taught for many years in different grade levels and a variety of contexts. Of the three mentioned in Politico, not really knowing any of the candidates, she would be my choice. My first choice would be Diane Ravitch.
Lily has been out of the classroom too long–she was president of UEA by the time I became a teacher in 1996. She never had to deal with NCLB or the other mutant iterations of that. She should not be the Secretary of Ed.
It sounds like we need different candidates. NPE should have a voice at the table – for sure.
It’s going to be a joy to have a president who will carry on happy traditions like throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game. I was thrilled, this year, to see my hometown team, the one I was raised rooting for, the Los Angeles Dodgers, win the World Series for the first time in 32 years. We won because our opponents from Tampa Bay put too much faith in data analytics during game six. They pulled from the game their best pitcher — while he was putting on the best performance of his life — because the computer predicted he was going to stop putting on the best performance of his life. The computer wasn’t watching him pitch. Data analytics fail.
Data analytics fails in education every day across the country, but the companies playing around with the data refuse to notice. Tech billionaires and their foundations cannot be allowed to have outsize influence over our government. The United States Department of Education cannot have a revolving door to businesses that profit from the collection of data. Data analytics is a proven failure after decades of lost progress. We have all watched the NAEP scores stagnate. The era of greed and corruption in the Department of Education must end. Joe Biden must select a secretary of education who will listen to reason instead of listening to big business. After he does that, he can visit classrooms and other fields of dreams with the satisfaction of knowing that he is not destroying them.
Well stated!
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30280991/washington-nationals-invite-president-elect-joe-biden-throw-first-pitch-opening-day
I think the choice of either union head would be a mistake.
I also do not think Linda Darling Hammond will change policies that have focused on “reinventing schools” amidst much talk about teacher quality, digital everything, and hype about SEL learning.
Take a look at this recent report, which has dubious praise for reports from the Center for Reinventing Public Education, Chiefs for Change, and faith in many California initiatives including dreadful CORE district surveillance schemes as if exemplary for the nation. https://restart-reinvent.learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Restart_Reinvent_Schools_COVID_REPORT.pdf
I think that NPE should forward recommendations based on the collective wisdom they have and not exclude members of the NPE board.
Second that.
“…as if exemplary for the nation.”
All of reform has been biased ideology that has been accepted as fact and “as if it is exemplary for the nation.” None of it is evidence based and legitimately valid. A whole cottage industry of so-called think tanks and faux education experts have sprung up to legitimize what is wholly a political agenda. Biden should steer clear of the DFER fakers. Their interests are political and economic, not educational.
Linda is well-qualified to be Secretary of Education but I don’t share her enthusiasm for assessment. She was instrumental in creating EdTPA and Smarter Balanced Assessment for Common Core.
My concern as well. I applaud her work on equity. I am worried that she would replace the current standardized testing regime with a different top-down non-mandate (like Race to the Top) for a different well-intentioned but disastrous assessment system–some sort of “balanced scorecard” system, for example.
Yes – great idea.
Diane Ravitch, please.
Amen to that
Can you imagine the response of the test-and-punish and, charters, and vouchers crowd? LOL.
It’s the stuff of dreams, Bob!
How about Andre M. Perry?
Or Mercedes Schneider?
But my top choice, ofc: Diane Ravitch. Brilliant, courageous, a fighter for kids and teachers.
Diane is without question the best choice for Biden’s SOE for many reasons that are obvious. Her advocacy is uncompromised for public education compared to the resumes of noted insider favorites and familiar faces. I propose NPE put forth Diane as best choice ASAP to the Biden team which is considering such decisions.
Public education has taken a merciless beating for 20 years now. We all know this. Recovering will be a long project–reversing the shameless looting and disruptive “reforms,” the invasion of standardized testing and the capture of district budgets by craven privatizers and tech billionaires. Needed: All of us and more continuing our opposition at all levels for kids, teachers, families, and communities in the public sector. Diane is the obvious premier asset to lead this task.
I agree. Her insight, knowledge of education history and ability to siphon through information and listen to educators, along with experience working with the US Department or Education would allow her to “hit the ground running” and put together a fantastic team.
If not the actual SOE, she should serve on an advisory team.
I propose NPE put forth Diane as best choice ASAP to the Biden team which is considering such decisions.
Agreed!
At a minimum, NPE should demand (and put together a petition for us to sign and publicize?) that President-Elect Biden meeting with Diane Ravitch to have her educate him about what we need.
I actually hope that Diane has no interest in the position. I am not ready to give up her blog.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/goodbye-attorney-general-bill-barr.html
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/stephen-miller-family-separation-goodbye-trump-administration.html
Diane, Is someone at NPE able start a letter or petition requesting a meeting with you, or that you and NPE have a voice at the table about the SOE position? Then post on Twitter for people to sign?
I would like to see Linda Darling-Hammond in charge. She understands how to operate in a bureaucracy also understands, despite her lack of direct k12 teaching experience, how we need to reform “education reform.”
I sent something like the following to this blog a couple of hours age. I used my cell phone, but evidently my concerns about the process of selecting people to form Pres. Biden’s cabinet positions didn’t transmit.
So here are my questions:
Dear Diane et al,
Is there a transition team? Who is on it, and will they make recommendations about candidates for SoE? Are we able to reach out to this group?
Is there a search committee or advisory group handling education that would find and vet candidates and make recommendations to the president? Who is on it?
Is the process open and competitive or is the choice already a done deal? (That is, can we promote someone who is qualified to be SoE, or are we just whistling in the wind?)
What is the timeline for putting forth the next candidate for SoE, and when would confirmation hearings bear held.?
Fred,
I just read in the Washington Post that Linda Darling-Hammond is chair of Biden’s education transition team.
“For the Education Department, the transition committee is being led by Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California State Board of Education, several people said. Darling-Hammond, who was considered for education secretary by President Barack Obama in 2008, is under consideration again, people familiar with the process said. Also under consideration are two teachers-union leaders: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelsen García, former president of the National Education Association.“
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/biden-education-change/2020/11/08/b5b25c7a-21d5-11eb-a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html
Thank you, Diane.
I think/hope Jill Biden will be instrumental in making a wise choice.
I can see LD-H as a coordinator of the search. As such, however, I think she should take herself out of the running for SoE. I wonder what the timetable is for finding the best candidate.
Dick Cheney ran GW.Bush search for VP.
He made money off his time in office. Halliburton, an oil-related business rewarded him.. One hand washes the other. Being a gatekeeper and choosing yourself to fill a position,(after you have screened out other contenders) strikes me as a tidy kind of favoritism
I am now discouraged. Are we going to get more of the same but just not as blatantly disrespectful to public educators and public schools?
Anyone who hasn’t been talking for months (at least) about how the top priority needs to be getting all students back in school full-time is totally unqualified in my view.
…how to get all students and staff back in school safely
FLERP, it’s not happening anytime soon.
🤧🤒🤕🤒☠️🔔
Public education has been battered by every White House this century. Diane understands the urgency of the situation; LDH and the heads of the teacher unions have not expressed or led with the clarity or urgency needed to defend and restore the public sector.
Just. No. Paul. Vallas. To any one of you readers who thinks he won’t be sniffing around for this job, think again. He’s the weekly Wednesday guest on Chicago Progressive Radio (& we all know he’s NOT a Progressive!). Don’t think he has a real job right now.
A few weeks ago, he was out w/a group of parents in suburban northwest part of Chicago Metro area, protesting the fact that the schools were not open (even though he most likely does not live in this suburb). So–he was featured prominently on the 10 PM news.
Too–there’s a well-reviewed documentary on the last Chicago mayoral race. One of the candidates they tailed, filmed, interviewed & more? Three guesses.
Hi retiredbutmissthekids. 🙂 I really can’t cite Paul Vallas’ accomplishments. ☹️
Because there are none.
Unless you count ruining the New Orleans Public School System as an accomplishment. (Maybe Arne does.)
FLERP, it’s not happening anytime soon.
🤧🤒🤕🤒☠️🔔
North Carolina’s Jen Mangram would make a great education Secretary.
At this time, my choice is the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Washington, Chris Reykdal. His open letter to the Biden/Harris in August, is compelling. The letter was carried in the Washington Post on September 3, 2020. The ten critical steps are laser focused and if carried out, would go a long way to getting our public education system back on track.