Arne Duncan is the Secretary of Education
It’s kind of amazing that this point keeps having to be made, but okay, fine, once again, per this:
Authentic reform must include addressing the very real health and emotional and social issues that kids bring with them to school every day, often getting in the way of their ability to focus on geometry, read and analyze a novel or take a standardized test. [Geoffrey] Canada knows this.
Pretending poverty doesn’t matter doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.
Extending the school day, and making kids take more standardized tests, and making sure that kids in California and Maine are taught to the same common standards won’t help kids who are hungry and sick and need glasses and don’t feel that their school environment is safe. Reformers who ignore such pesky details can’t succeed.
Is it possible that some kids can succeed despite the odds? Of course some do. But as I’ve said