not so much
not happy with arne duncan as secretary of education. he is well-liked as a person, but his policies have been ineffective and detrimental. he has not done anything about the inequity in school funding and while he does close low-performing schools (almost at random, with no announced criteria), all that does is displace students and teachers, and destroy the efforts of principles to turn things around under very difficult circumstances.
also, arne duncan has never been in the classroom (that is, he's not a teacher and never has been. i don't think he's even an academic with an education degree) and while he does have 'outside the box' ideas they have not improved anything and indeed, have made most things about the experience of parents, students, teachers and principles worse.
he has certainly ushered in the age of charter schools, but according to the data those schools are no better than public schools unless they select out the most troubled students. you will also hear people say that test scores have increased incrementally on duncan's watch, and that's true, but drop out rates have also soared, class sizes have increased, lethal violence has increased exponentially, and the percentage of kids who matriculate to college has remained in the low teens.
there is a slim chance that duncan will do better at the federal level, where he'll be more responsible for ideas than implementation, but he has accomplished next to nothing for students here in chicago.
then again, he may be the least of evils. i am no expert, but between ST and i, we can't think of a person in charge of a large, urban public school system who's made any significant improvements and that's mostly because no one is willing to attack the real problem with public education: chronic underfunding for 30 years, unequal funding due to the reliance of property taxes, lack of support for teachers and principles, and lack of community development in blighted neighborhoods.
those are big,complex, politically difficult problems, so instead, unions get painted as the root of all evil, teachers are bullied and blamed, principles get squeezed and threatened, and the kids, as ever, get the shaft.
also, arne duncan has never been in the classroom (that is, he's not a teacher and never has been. i don't think he's even an academic with an education degree) and while he does have 'outside the box' ideas they have not improved anything and indeed, have made most things about the experience of parents, students, teachers and principles worse.
he has certainly ushered in the age of charter schools, but according to the data those schools are no better than public schools unless they select out the most troubled students. you will also hear people say that test scores have increased incrementally on duncan's watch, and that's true, but drop out rates have also soared, class sizes have increased, lethal violence has increased exponentially, and the percentage of kids who matriculate to college has remained in the low teens.
there is a slim chance that duncan will do better at the federal level, where he'll be more responsible for ideas than implementation, but he has accomplished next to nothing for students here in chicago.
then again, he may be the least of evils. i am no expert, but between ST and i, we can't think of a person in charge of a large, urban public school system who's made any significant improvements and that's mostly because no one is willing to attack the real problem with public education: chronic underfunding for 30 years, unequal funding due to the reliance of property taxes, lack of support for teachers and principles, and lack of community development in blighted neighborhoods.
those are big,complex, politically difficult problems, so instead, unions get painted as the root of all evil, teachers are bullied and blamed, principles get squeezed and threatened, and the kids, as ever, get the shaft.