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Duncan’s selection of the NYS Ed. Dept. as a RttT finalist demonstrates, beyond cavil, that the grant process is purely political. Official audit after audit has shown that federal funds given to NY State Ed. are at high risk of “fraud, waste and misappropriation.” Follow up audits consistently show that State Ed.’s promises to clean up its act are fiction, at best. Other audits and reports show that State Ed.’s numbers re kids passing Regents and other NCLB-mandated exams, graduating and dropping out are unreliable, at best, and intentionally falsified, at worst.

And then there’s the little problem that State Ed.’s RttT application doesn’t actually list any real parents or organizations of parents it consulted before concocting its application. Apparently that doesn’t bother Flunkin Duncan at all.

“Change you can believe in”? I don’t think so. “Politics as usual” is more precise.

When kids cheat and commit outright fraud in school, they get punished. When adults running large systems do so, … not! At least not if they are in NYS and have powerful politicians pushing to keep federal grant pork gushing dollar goodies in their direction.

What’s with the eastern bias? Aside from Louisiana, only Colorado is west of the Mississippi. Does that strike anyone else as odd?

I don’t know about NYS, Dee, it would seem that other states like Texas and California could rustle up quite a lobby but didn’t get pushed through. Maybe Obama just has a soft spot for us.

Actually, giving NYSED RttT money, or money from any new federal initiative, probably violates a few dozen USDOE and federal government rules. Indeed, Chicago-style politics rules!

Duncan’s tenure heading up the Chicago Public Schools has been seriously discredited by others, so there’s no particular reason for me to go into the mess he made at length. Suffice it to say that the professional disability community has had nothing good to say about his term there and warned everyone else in advance … and they wuz rite!

We can expect spin, smoke, mirrors, flash and everything else a p.r. flack can dream up and circulate. What this means for the kids is quite another story. And not one likely to be endearing to those who care about how children actually do in school.

The more things change …

Wow!  This is right up there with Milli Vanilli winning the Grammy!

Let’s call Duncan’s program by what it really is: The Race to the Bottom.
He is taking tax money for unproven reforms. He wants more accountability for teachers, but not for himself. He did a poor job in Chicago, and was not held accountable for it. Now he is doing a poor job as the secretary of education but is not being held accountable for it.