Washington -- Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager overseeing a massive overhaul of Detroit Public Schools, got a major boost in his quest for academic control of the district as the nation's top education official said he supported Bobb's reform efforts.
"I think that'd be a big step in the right direction," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said during a roundtable with reporters on his department's plans for nationwide school reforms.
Duncan's comments come as state lawmakers consider changing Michigan's emergency financial manager law to expand Bobb's purview from fiscal matters to those of academics as well. Detroit's elected school board has fought against such a change, suing Bobb in court and testifying at education committee hearings in Lansing.
Control over academics is unresolved, even as Bobb moves forward to implement sweeping academic reforms. Some of those efforts include new requirements for high-schoolers to take Advanced Placement courses that can help move them ahead with collegiate studies, pre-algebra curriculum for sixth-graders and a new program that would pair pre-kindergarten students with reading tutors to help them get an early jump on basic skills.
Many of those reforms fall in line with Duncan's nationwide reform efforts. Over the past year, the federal Department of Education has announced new funding efforts to offer schools districts incentives to devise innovative ways to educate students who might otherwise slip through the cracks.
Academic issues were highlighted by low scores by fourth- and eighth-graders on a national test. Most of Detroit students taking the test scored below basic on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Duncan called the scores a wake-up call.
"Detroit was so far behind everybody else, it was staggering," he said. "It was stunning."
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100205/SCHOOLS/2050364/1409/METRO/Education-secretary-says-Robert-Bobb-is-a--breath-of-fresh-air-#ixzz0eg3Os3xb
