BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan dealt the Detroit Public Schools another verbal blow, calling the district “arguably the worst urban school district in the country now.”
Duncan made the remarks in response to a DPS-related question during a discussion today at the American Enterprise Institute Forum in Washington, D.C. The discussion was about the challenges associated with improving cost-effectiveness in K-12 education.
When asked his opinion of a DPS proposal to use federal Title I dollars for early childhood education diagnostics, Duncan said he wanted more of those funds spent on early childhood education and added that DPS is a district “where the education provided to those children has been devastatingly bad for far too long.”
Duncan did, however, say that he is a “fan” of DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert