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Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Give Obama credit for what he got right. Somewhere along the line, perhaps during his stint as a community organizer, he figured out the three great truths about our mediocre public schools: They're plagued by low expectations; they exist for the benefit of the adults who work there, not the students; and many teachers will resist, with every fiber of their being, taking responsibility for what students are learning because they know it wouldn't reflect well on them.
Obama's “Race to the Top” initiative, which would evaluate teachers based on student performance and reward those states and school districts that practice innovative approaches to educating students, is a major step in the right direction.
Yet, unfortunately — in light of some of his recent public statements and his administration's plans to water down the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind education reform law — it's clear that Obama still has a lot to learn about what's broken in our public schools and how to fix it.
Real reformers should know better than to pursue incompatible agendas. You can't serve the interests of students and parents by demanding accountability from public schools and then turn around and pander to teachers unions by dismantling NCLB, which holds them accountable.