Why Pedro Noguera will be Marching to Save Our Schools July 30th
Pedro Noguera has been a leader in education reform for decades. I came to know him during the battle to end apartheid in the 1980s, when we were both students at UC Berkeley. As a parent, he became very involved in the local schools, served on the Berkeley Board of Education, and went on to center his research on finding solutions that work for all children. He will be joining us at the Save Our Schools March this month, so I asked him to share some thoughts with us.
Question: You have expressed some frustrations with Department of Education's policies. Where has the Department gone wrong?
The US Dept of Education has essentially continued with the policies initiated by Bush with minor exceptions. I do think they should be given credit for the core standards which provide greater clarity to schools in relation to curriculum content and the knowledge students should acquire. I also think they should be praised for making stimulus money available to schools at a time when schools have been hit hard by budget cuts. The Promise Neighborhood program, the I3 grants, their efforts to reduce the burden of college loans on students are all commendable. Perhaps the most important thing the administration has done is to expand health coverage which will have a