Waiting for Superman: A "Signal Moment" In Education?
"The excitement and agitation around "Superman" might seem hyperbolic, overblown.
Yet both are symptomatic of a signal moment in the annals of American education,
when a confluence of factors - a grassroots outcry for better schools,
a cadre of determined reformers,
a newly demanding and parlous global economy,
and a president willing to challenge his party's hoariest shibboleths and most potent allies -
has created what Duncan calls a 'perfect storm.'
It's a moment when debates are raging over an array of combustible issues, from the expansion of charters and the role of standardized-test scores to the shuttering of failing schools
and the firing of crappy teachers.
It's a moment ripe with ferment and possibility, but also rife with conflict, in which the kind of
Yet both are symptomatic of a signal moment in the annals of American education,
when a confluence of factors - a grassroots outcry for better schools,
a cadre of determined reformers,
a newly demanding and parlous global economy,
and a president willing to challenge his party's hoariest shibboleths and most potent allies -
has created what Duncan calls a 'perfect storm.'
It's a moment when debates are raging over an array of combustible issues, from the expansion of charters and the role of standardized-test scores to the shuttering of failing schools
and the firing of crappy teachers.
It's a moment ripe with ferment and possibility, but also rife with conflict, in which the kind of
