The first week in May was Teacher Appreciation Week. On May 2, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released an “open letter” to America’s teachers, thanking them for their service and saying, in essence, “I hear you, I respect you, I understand your problems, I want to work with you.” It should have been about as controversial as the president’s annual Thanksgiving message, but in this case the letter backfired. Teachers reacted to the letter with outrage, as if it were addressed to the turkey community on Thanksgiving Day.
No one should be surprised. Behind the teachers’ rage and skepticism is the fact that Duncan has time and again said that “bad” teachers cause low test scores, refusing to recognize (as he did, belatedly, in his letter) that low test scores are primarily caused by poverty and lack of family support. Teachers remember that he cheered when the entire staff of Central Falls High School was fired (albeit temporarily). They recall that he was one of the few to applaud when the Los Angeles Times published teacher effectiveness ratings online, based on flawed test score data. They know that his Race to the Top program has encouraged state legislatures to pass laws mandating that
