MEDIA: More Wacky Duncan Coverage [updated]

Chicago might as well be on Mars, so little do education observers and journalists seem to know about its actual workings.  Over at EdWeek, The Hoff is calling Obama pick Arne Duncan a "supporter" of NCLB when in reality Duncan has been one of the most vocal critics of the legislation and Chicago has been one of the slowest and most reluctant implementers of the law.

Want examples?  Duncan opposed the NCLB school transfer requirement, claiming that Chicago already had enough choice through its magnet and selective enrollment programs on its own.  He tried unsuccessfully to keep the vast majority of SES tutoring in-house, even after Chicago was ruled ineligible due to its probationary status. He has largely ignored AYP ratings and come up with his own school rating system and minimum standards to to determine which schools were on probation and which would be closed. CPS is still fighting the ELL testing requirement, among other things.

UPDATE:  In a new Huffington Post column, former USDE official Susan Neuman describes Duncan as having "pushed every button he could" to try and push back against the law.  Back then she was ostensibly for the law and he was against it.  Now, apparently, their positions have reversed.  Yay. 

Comments

[David Don't Hassle The HOff]

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/NCLB-ActII/2008/12/duncan_looks_more_like_a_suppo_1.html

move XXXXX get out the way!

[hardly]

http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2008/12/transition-du-2.html