So-Called Education Manifesto More Rhetoric Than Solution | 
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Last week, a group of big city school superintendents offered a so-called “manifesto” to fix the nation’s schools. AFT President Randi Weingarten says that although the manifesto’s goals are lofty, it offers few concrete solutions.
The manifesto, wrote Valerie Strauss, a Washington Post education reporter,
was long on rhetoric and short on substance…views charter schools as a big answer to urban school failure, bashes teachers unions and supports market-driven “fixes” to schools.
Weingarten says the manifesto’s only specific remedy to fix ailing school, “shifting sole responsibility to teachers” and offers a different approach.
Let’s come together—teachers, superintendents, principals, parents and community members–and develop a joint manifesto about how to best educate all of our kids. After all, superintendents have a responsibility not only to demand excellence and accountability from others, but also to ensure that teachers have the resources to help their students succeed.
She calls for more collaboration among teachers, superintendents, school districts and elected officials to share strategies that work for teacher development, mentoring and evaluation practices and achievement gains.
In the area of teacher development, Weingarten says AFT has worked with experts and