Education Secretary Arne Duncan's legacy as Chicago schools chief questioned

[tonysam]

Why is this being asked NOW and not over a year ago when it could have made a difference?

Soon after Arne Duncan left his job as schools chief here to become one of the most powerful U.S. education secretaries ever, his former students sat for federal achievement tests. This month, the mathematics report card was delivered: Chicago trailed several cities in performance and progress made over six years.

Miami, Houston and New York had higher scores than Chicago on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Boston, San Diego and Atlanta had bigger gains. Even fourth-graders in the much-maligned D.C. schools improved nearly twice as much since 2003.

The federal readout is just one measure of Duncan's record as chief executive of the nation's third-largest system. Others show advances on various fronts. But the new math scores signal that Chicago is nowhere near the head of the pack in urban school improvement, even though Duncan often cites the successes of his tenure as he crusades to fix public education.

"Chicago is not the story of an education miracle," said Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank in Washington. "It is, however, the story of a large urban system that has made some gains and has made some promising structural changes."

More

Of course the Fordham Institute is a right-wing "think tank" which is heavily involved in the destruction of public education, but be that as it may, why in the hell wasn't Arne's record as Chicago Schools chief more closely scrutinized by the media?

[femmocrat]

1. We howled mightily about it here at DU.

"Somebody" should pay attention to us!

He is Obama's basketball buddy and is not qualified to be Sec. of Education. He never taught a day in his life. Obama really let teachers down on this appointement.

His "Race to the Top" initiative could have been written by Bill Bennett. :puke:

[tonysam]

2. I think the worst thing about Arne is that he is so STUPID

I never thought anybody could be dumber than the previous occupant of the Oval Office, but Arne is even dumber.

[Dinger]

3. The Lawyer For Our Local Said Not To Sign Some rttt Bullshit Paper

Our superintendent (asshole) gave it to our union president. I did see the paper yet, but she (president) said that the not so super super wanted our members to discuss and/or sign some rttt bullshit, and the lawyer said not to. Our state union has not supported it, yet anyway. duncan is a rightwinger with a supposed "D" after his name.

[alp227]

4. Answer: The media is too intimidated to challenge the government

The Post was quick to report on Watergate. Why did they procrastinate on Duncan's background? I guess the corporate media is lock & step with the corporate takeover of education after all!

[tonysam]

5. They regularly write puff pieces on D.C. Chancellor and tyrant

Michelle Rhee, so the Post can't be counted on to write anything good about public education.

[Hannah Bell]

6. not intimidated. colluding.

[adnelson60087]

7. Duncan is Obama's man...

and they didn't really scrutinize Obama's "liberal" agenda very closely. Hence, they just didn't care enough to ask.