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Arne Duncan on NCLB: “We are lying to parents and children”

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is laying the groundwork for a reauthorized don’t-call-it-No Child Left Behind law right. This. Moment. He wants to keep a lot of the principles but change some of the on-the-ground details.

Ed Week’s Politics K12 has the latest on his priorities:

Duncan didn’t say anything he hasn’t said before, but he used the high-profile forum to stress some priorities, including extended learning time, using data to track student and teacher effectiveness, and systems to better measure individual student progress. (That’s code for growth models, which are expected to be a given in this reauthorization.)

He also said about the current law:

“But the biggest problem with NCLB is that it doesn’t encourage high learning standards,” Duncan said. “In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when they are not.”

Next step: a bunch of “stakeholder meetings” to take the temperature of the field. The U.S. Department of Education web site has the dates.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Arne gets to write the regs for the Race to the Top, he doesn’t get to write the reauthorization of NCLB. The angst over a Health Care Reform Bill will morph into similar hostility over NCLB. For many states NCLB is looked upon as an intrusion into education, traditionally a constitutional state function.

    He deperately needs support from both teacher unions, NEA and the AFT, and probably will only get lackluster encouragement, or outright hostility.

    I doubt this administration will expend political chips on the Duncan iteration of NCLB, and, we may see a much weaker bill.

  • Michael M.

    Re “The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when they are not.”

    Will Duncan extend that principle to NYC, or does he think Bloomberg and Klein aren’t from Spin City?

  • http://www.classsizematters.org Leonie Haimson

    The link to the Ed Dept is broken; can you fix?

  • http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/09/09242009.html Michael M.

    Leonie et al,
    Click my name for Dept of Ed Press Release full link.

    “The dates and times for upcoming ESEA stakeholder meetings [in DC] are as follows:

    Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
    Wednesday, Nov. 4 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
    Friday, Nov. 20 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
    Wednesday, Dec. 2 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
    The forums are part of the department’s “Listening and Learning” tour seeking public input about changes to the ESEA. By the end of the year, the secretary or a senior staff member will have led a listening and learning event in all 50 states.

    No info on meetings in the states.

    Namephreak: Sec of Ed Arne Duncan’s press secretary’s name. ; – )

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