The Answer Sheet: secretary arne duncan


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 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 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, 11/02/2010

Is Duncan out of bounds?
By Valerie Strauss
I have one question about this poster promoting Education Secretary Arne Duncan's speech on school reform at UNESCO headquarters in Paris this week: Who thought showing Duncan playing basketball with President Obama was a good idea?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  arne duncan, education department, president obama, school reform, secretary arne duncan, secretary duncan, unesco

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 06:30 AM ET, 03/30/2010

Florida's terrible teachers bill a test for Duncan
By Valerie Strauss
The state of Florida could prove to be a big test for Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Legislators in the Sunshine State are moving with all due speed to pass legislation that would go a long way to making sure no...

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 03/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Ed Secretary Arne Duncan, Florida, Race to the Top

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 03/27/2010

More on Duncan’s VIP list in Chicago
By Valerie Strauss
There are new details about a list of VIPS and others who asked then Chicago Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan for help in getting certain children into top public schools. And here's an interesting discussion about the list and Duncan's record in Chicago.

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 03/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Chicago public schools, Ed Secretary Arne Duncan

Posted at 03:51 PM ET, 01/29/2010

Duncan’s own Hurricane Katrina

By Valerie Strauss
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said to an interviewer that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that happened to the New Orleans school system, I’m sure he wasn’t retroactively wishing a catastrophe to decimate the city and its school buildings. But he seems to be confusing metaphor with reality.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:51 PM ET, 01/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  secretary arne duncan

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