Frederick M. Hess's Blog
Sec. Duncan on Innovation at the Aspen Institute
by Frederick M. Hess • May 27, 2010 at 9:15 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
Cross-posted from Education Week
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Yesterday, the Aspen Institute hosted Secretary Duncan and i3 chief Jim Shelton for a lunch conversation on educational innovation. There were maybe 35 or 40 folks in attendance, including hotshot supes Jack Dale and Jerry Weast, a handful of influential wonks, a smattering of reporters, reform studs like Common Core avatar David Coleman and New Leaders honcho Jon Schnur, NEA executive director John Wilson, and other assorted heavyweights.
On the whole, I thought it was better than Duncan's formal speeches. He spoke without any evident notes, pretty much steered clear of the "it's for the kids" rhetoric, didn't filibuster, and was admirably direct in responding to some questions--issuing strong affirmative answers to questions about whether the feds should financially penalize colleges which don't graduate students and whether textbooks are an anachronism.
Not much news, but a few points of interest. As Andy Rotherham pointed out yesterday, Duncan said multiple times that he anticipates only about 70 i3 winners--which would mean that more than 95% of applicants can expect to come up empty. And Duncan indicated that he doesn't want to hear any more complaints about
