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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Randi Weingarten for Chancellor? - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Randi Weingarten for Chancellor? - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Randi Weingarten for Chancellor?

What would happen if New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg installed American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten as the city's school chancellor?

It's a scenario posed in Steven Brill's new book Class Warfare, which traces the rise of proponents of the Race to the Top and other initiatives that have put much emphasis on "teacher effectiveness."

There is certainly no love lost between Brill and Weingarten—one of his earlier pieces resulted in AFT claiming he'd made up quotes. Don't expect that relationship to change much: In the new book, Brill suggests that Weingarten would quickly embrace stronger evaluation systems and performance pay if she was under direct pressure to improve student achievement. It's not a particularly subtle critique of the union leader.

But leave all that baggage aside for a moment. What exactly would Weingarten do as schools chancellor,