What does Obama believe about education?
On March 28, President Obama did a Town Hall Meeting on Education from Bell Multicultural High School in DC televised on Univision. In his answers to a question from one student, the President made some remarks that seemed somewhat in contradiction to the policies of his Department of Education as demonstrated in Race to the Top and the Blue Print for Education that is the administration's plan for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the most recent version of which is commonly called No Child Left Behind.
Among those focusing on the apparent contradiction was Anthony Cody, a science education coach in Oakland who is also a regular blogger at the Teacher Magazine Website, his blog called Living in Dialogue. The following day Anthony (who is a friend and professional colleague) posted Obama Blasts His Own Education Policies. Anthony was not the only one to notice the discrepancy - the Bolder Broader Approach to education sent out a remarkably similar sounding email cosigned by among others Tom Payzant and Pedro Noguera on Friday. Meanwhile, on March 30, Valerie Strauss used her Answer Sheet Blog at the Washington Post to crosspost Anthony's blog.
It would be an understatement to say the Department of Education was not happy. Please keep reading to see more, and for some of my observations.