Duncan's track record
this is an old article, from when he was appointed, but catalyst is a fine publication. i think it is an honest reported, warts and all, of his tenure here. it is in 3 parts, linked together.
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Seven years of reform experiments—some show promise, few taken to scale, modest gains in performance.
In his seven years as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Arne Duncan has taken on a host of urban education policy challenges to varying degrees of success.
This week, Catalyst revisits some of these signature initiatives, and weighs their significance on the national scene.
http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/news/2008/12/15/duncans-track-record
= new reply since forum marked as read
Educational programs are complex and mysterious, even to employees within them. I liked this part of the story:
Since then, the district has released a deluge of data around student learning. Its website is a treasure trove of school-by-school and grade-by-grade performance measures ranging from attendance and freshmen “on-track” rates to “value-added” test score gains.
But little has been done to shed light on district spending decisions, particularly construction and renovation budgets. CPS continues to gather input on capital needs through public meetings, but it has not laid out a clear spending strategy nor has it ranked renovation priorities from school to school. Community groups have long demanded, in vain, for just such a plan.
People take an awful lot of crap from people of all political sides, left and right, and much of it undeserved.
Just today my cousin was railing about high gas prices and Obama's opposition to the Keystone pipeline deal.
One has nothing to do with the other.
