A Few Other Principles Worth Stating
Last week, a group of around 25 education advocacy organizations, including influential players such as Democrats for Education Reform and Education Trust, released a “statement of principles” on the role of teacher quality in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The statement, which is addressed to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House committees that will be handling the reauthorization, lays out some guidelines for teacher-focused policy in ESEA (a draft of the full legislation was released this week; summary here).
Most of the statement is the standard fare from proponents of market-based reform, some of which I agree with in theory if not practice. But the letter also opens (second sentence) with a rather remarkable framing argument:
Research shows overwhelmingly that the only way to close achievement gaps – both gaps between U.S. students and those in higher-achieving countries and gaps within the U.S. between poor and minority students and those more advantaged – and transform public education is to
