The Answer Sheet: education secretary


Posted at 08:59 AM ET, 02/15/2013

Perk of the job: Arne Duncan in NBA All-Star game
By Valerie Strauss
Duncan played varsity ball at Harvard and professional basketball in Australia. Tonight he hits the courts again.

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:59 AM ET, 02/15/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Arne Duncan, Education Secretary Hits the Court, NBA All-Star Game, Perk of Being Education Secretary

Posted at 02:58 PM ET, 02/01/2013

Arne Duncan: We need gun control, more early childhood education
By Valerie Strauss
ducation Arne Duncan made clear in an interview with Bloomberg Radio that he plans to concentrate on early childhood education in President Obama's second term and he said the country must deal with gun violence now. Here are excerpts from the interview.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:58 PM ET, 02/01/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Arne Duncan, Early Childhood Education, Education Secretary, Excerpts From Interview

Posted at 02:22 PM ET, 11/28/2012

Arne Duncan's second term?
By Valerie Strauss
Why would Education Secretary Arne Duncan not directly address questions put to hima bout his second-term agenda at Jeb Bush's school reform summit in Washington D.C. today?

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:22 PM ET, 11/28/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Arne Duncan, Education Secretary, Exotic Dancer?, Obama administration

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 02/03/2011

The VIVA Project: What teachers told Duncan
By Valerie Strauss
More than 150 public school teachers put their heads together to devise solutions to problems that most affect their profession. Then they got to do something unusual with their conclusions: present them to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 02/03/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Arne Duncan, The Answer Sheet, VIVA project, education, education secretary duncan, evaluation and teachers, performance-based evaluation, school, teachers

Posted at 05:47 PM ET, 01/13/2011

Should Duncan have plugged Henderson for D.C. schools boss?
By Valerie Strauss
If Education Secretary Arne Duncan were sitting in the editorial board of The New York Times talking about education, do you think he would put in a plug for a specific candidate to be chancellor of the city's public schools?

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:47 PM ET, 01/13/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  arne duncan, d.c. schools, d.c. schools chancellor, education secretary arne duncan, kaya henderson, mayor gray, mayor vincent gray, vincent gray

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011

A principal on standardized vs. teacher-written tests
By Valerie Strauss
Educator George Wood urges Congress not to rely on standardized tests to measure achievement. If you don't think that "data-driven decision-making" is really test-driven decision making, consider this: Ohio’s school report cards consist of 26 “data” points, and 24 of them—92%--are test scores.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood | Tags:  arne duncan, disaggregated data, education secretary duncan, elementary and secondary school act, esea, esea reauthoraization, george word, nclb, new congress, new york performance assessment consortium, no child left behind, reauthorization of no child left behind, standardized tests

Posted at 02:00 PM ET, 01/03/2011

A response to Arne Duncan
By Valerie Strauss
Here's a response to a piece Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote in The Washington Post today.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:00 PM ET, 01/03/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  arne duncan, bill gates, education secretary arne duncan, esea, nclb, no child left behind, school reform, testing industry

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/29/2010

What Tom Friedman got wrong about schools and why it matters
By Valerie Strauss
The great New York Times columnist Tom Friedman wrote in a recent piece that if he were a cub reporter today, he’d want to be “covering the epicenter of national security -- but that would be the Education Department.” If Friedman the cub reporter had turned in this piece, a veteran education editor would have sent it back, asking him to back up his contentions with research. He’d have a hard time.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 11/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, education secretary arne duncan, performance pay, public schools, school reform, schools, standardized tests, teacher evaluation, the new york times, tom friedman

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 11/24/2010

The mismatch between Duncan's words, actions
By Valerie Strauss
A veteran teacher writes an open letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, saying that the mismatch between Duncan's words and actions makes "a real consensus impossible."

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 11/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Anthony Cody, Anthony Cody, Anthony Cody | Tags:  anthony cody, arne duncan, education secretary, evaluating teachers, school reform, standardized tests, teacher assessment, value-added

Posted at 12:46 PM ET, 11/20/2010

Why teaching experience really matters
By Valerie Strauss
Bill Gates just urged school districts and states to stop rewarding teachers for their experience in the classroom and/or advanced education degrees. Arne Duncan makes the same argument. But evidence shows that teaching experience DOES matter.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:46 PM ET, 11/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, bill gates, class size, does experience matter, education department, education secretary duncan, lowering class size, raising class size, research on class size, research on teaching experience, school reform, schools, shankar blog, standardized tests, teacher experience, teacher pay, teacher quality, teacher salaries, teachers, teaching experience, value added

Posted at 06:09 PM ET, 11/18/2010

The NAEP scores problem
By Valerie Strauss
When you live by test scores, you run the risk of dying by them too -- or, at least, the policies that dictated their importance should.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:09 PM ET, 11/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  arne duncan, education secretary arne duncan, naep, naep scores, national assessment of educational progress, standardized tests, test scores

Posted at 01:57 PM ET, 11/04/2010

Margaret Spellings: The last NCLB defender?
By Valerie Strauss
It's hard to find strong defenders of No Child Left Behind these days, except, perhaps, for Margaret Spellings.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:57 PM ET, 11/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  No Child Left Behind | Tags:  arne duncan, diane ravitch, education secretary arne duncan, jay mathews, margaret spellings, nclb, no child left behind, vincent gray

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010

Ravitch: Welcome back to school "reform"
By Valerie Strauss
Diane Ravitch predicts that the 2010-11 school year will be another year in which "teachers and principals will be blamed and punished" unless their students' test scores go "up and up," more principals will be fired and more schools will be closed. And more.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  diane ravitch, education secretary duncan, guest bloggers, no child left behind, obama and blueprint, obama and school reform, race to the top, race to the top winners, rttt winners, the death and life of the great american school system, top ooool reboamael

Posted at 05:16 PM ET, 06/01/2010

The desperation of Race to the Top
By Valerie Strauss
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell should stop sounding so defensive about why the state opted out of the second round of the $4 billion Race to the Top contest. Virginia and at least 20 other states did the right thing.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:16 PM ET, 06/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  duncan and race to the top, education secretary arne duncan, race to the top, race to the top second round, rttt second round, school reform and arne duncan, states and race to the top

Posted at 01:38 PM ET, 06/01/2010

Chicago's teacher performance-based pay didn't work -- new analysis
By Valerie Strauss
A study released today shows no evidence that performance-based compensation for teachers in Chicago improved student math and reading tests when compared with a group of similar schools that did not use the system. Meanwhile, states are rushing to implement this kind of payment system without real evidence that it works.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:38 PM ET, 06/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Research, Research, Research | Tags:  analysis on performance-based pay, chicago tap, chicago tap and report, chicago tap program, duncan and chicago, education secretary arne duncan, performance-based pay, race to the top, report on performanced-based pay, tap

Posted at 10:20 AM ET, 05/10/2010

Say what, Secretary Duncan?
By Valerie Strauss
Education Secretary Arne Duncan must have been kidding when he said he has no public opposition to his education reforms. Because if he isn't kidding, the alternative is far worse.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:20 AM ET, 05/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Education Secretary Duncan, Race to the Top, Race to the Top opposition, Wall Street Journal and Duncan, public opposition to reform, race to the top proposals, states pull out of race to the top

Posted at 05:02 PM ET, 05/09/2010

Charter schools: Is this the way it was supposed to work?
By Valerie Strauss
With Education Secretary Arne Duncan promoting the expansion of publicly funded charter schools as if they had been proven to be the silver bullet for school reform (they haven’t), it seems reasonable to look at what can happen when schools are opened without enough regulation.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:02 PM ET, 05/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Charter schools, Charter schools | Tags:  Arne Duncan, Central Avenue School, Duncan and charter schools, Education Secretary Duncan, Florida and charter schools, Imagine Schools, New York Times and charter schools, St. Petersburg Times and charter schools, charter schools

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 10/30/2009

Levine: Ed schools should grab Duncan's lifeline--and not 'carp' about his critique
By Valerie Strauss
By Arthur Levine. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's speech at Columbia University's Teachers College represents a reversal of a recent trend: Government and philanthropy have tended to turn away from education schools, increasingly viewing them as poor in quality and unwilling to change..... He called for "revolutionary change" at these schools.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:15 AM ET, 10/30/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Education Secretary Arne Duncan, education schools

Posted at 01:57 PM ET, 09/29/2009

How Do Americans View Their Public Schools?
By Valerie Strauss
The following was submitted by educator Stephen Krashen to Kappan, the magazine of Phi Delta Kappa International, in relation to the 41st annual PDK/Gallup poll on how Americans view public education, published in the September 2009 issue. Do you agree or disagree with him? How do you rate your neighborhood public school?

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:57 PM ET, 09/29/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  education secretary arne duncan, gerald bracey, public education, stephen krashen

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 09/22/2009

CHECKING IT OUT: The Push for National Standards--and Why You Should Care
By Valerie Strauss
The new release of a draft of national standards for math and language arts brings into sharp focus an effort to reform public education--based on the notion that all Americans should have the same basic foundation of knowledge and skills. The impetus behind national standards is understandable, but the bottom line is that Americans don't all have the same educational needs.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 09/22/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  National Standards, National Standards | Tags:  content standards, education secretary arne duncan, national standards, no child left behind, school reform