Frederick M. Hess's Blog
Some Unsolicited Advice for ED's Communication Gurus
by Frederick M. Hess • Apr 1, 2010 at 9:12 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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I've been hard on Secretary Duncan and the administration, especially on the subject of Race to the Top (RTT). No two ways about it. This has prompted some in the administration to ask whether I'm just a reflexive contrarian.
I don't intend to be. As I've said before, I like and respect many in the administration, count many as friends, and think they've been trying to push in the right direction. That I've been semi-scathing is in no small part a reaction to how ED has communicated its efforts and the coverage they've received. There's not much that ED can do about the coverage, but there is stuff it can control.
When Kevin Jennings told Phi Delta Kappan that common core standards would eventually be stretched to include "safe environments," or when concerns emerged last fall about sycophantic ED-issued materials to complement the President's back-to-school speech, I would have been far more sympathetic if anyone at ED had ever conceded, "Whoops, this was a mistake," or granted that there were legitimate concerns and that they were being addressed. Instead, the Jennings declaration was quietly declared inoperative and the back-to-school materials were quietly altered. Asked last fall about the Secretary's promises that the $100 billion in non-RTT stimulus dollars would fund reform as well as jobs, the Department simply bragged about jobs
