Granted, in some cases like California, anything seems better than the status quo; however, consider the Obama administration’s own track record when it comes to “reform.” According to the Post, the real test of this administration’s ed reform creds will be “whether the administration takes on the task of overhauling No Child Left Behind to maintain the law’s focus on holding schools accountable while building some needed flexibility into judging school performance.” In actuality, this administration has already been put to the test. It failed. The day after pledging to follow a “whatever-works” approach to reform and innovation, the president signed legislation killing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program-even though scholarships are about one-third of D.C. public school per-pupil expenditure, and students with scholarships are performing up to two years ahead of their public school peers in reading. A few weeks later Education Secretary Arne Duncan even rescinded the scholarships of 216 low-income students, who are now forced to attend some of the District’s most dysfunctional and unsafe schools. Until this administration empowers parents to choose the same kinds of schools its members choose for their own children, the President has negligible creditability when it comes to education reform–no matter how many billion-dollar checks he signs.
This blog post originally appeared on Independent Women’s Forum.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
No Ed Reform Cred for the Obama Administration
Vicki E. Murray
Granted, in some cases like California, anything seems better than the status quo; however, consider the Obama administration’s own track record when it comes to “reform.” According to the Post, the real test of this administration’s ed reform creds will be “whether the administration takes on the task of overhauling No Child Left Behind to maintain the law’s focus on holding schools accountable while building some needed flexibility into judging school performance.” In actuality, this administration has already been put to the test. It failed. The day after pledging to follow a “whatever-works” approach to reform and innovation, the president signed legislation killing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program-even though scholarships are about one-third of D.C. public school per-pupil expenditure, and students with scholarships are performing up to two years ahead of their public school peers in reading. A few weeks later Education Secretary Arne Duncan even rescinded the scholarships of 216 low-income students, who are now forced to attend some of the District’s most dysfunctional and unsafe schools. Until this administration empowers parents to choose the same kinds of schools its members choose for their own children, the President has negligible creditability when it comes to education reform–no matter how many billion-dollar checks he signs.
This blog post originally appeared on Independent Women’s Forum.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.