Arne Duncan/President Obama’s New “Flexibility” Program, the NCLB Waivers
A Commentary:
It’s interesting how President Obama in his speech yesterday referred to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as a failed program with no mention of Race to the Top (RTTT) which was the same but worse. Some of us refer to RTTT as NCLB on steroids and it seems that at this time most people have recognized that RTTT is also a failed policy. A policy of forcing school districts to align to a specific set of standards and if the standards are not met, the school is “turned around”, meaning either closed permanently, half the staff fired or the principal removed or the school turned into a charter school and staffed with uncertified and inexperienced teachers including Teach for America, Inc. recruits.. How whacked was that?! Unfortunately school districts wanting some of that RTTT money complied with disastrous results.
Neither program addressed the real issues of low achievement, mainly poverty. 21% of our children live in poverty
