A Chance to Choose a New Direction for Education in California
Last night I had the honor of speaking to an audience of several thousand teachers from the greater Sacramento area, at an event that featured State Superintendent Tom Torlakson, California Teachers Association vice president Eric Heins, Linda Darling Hammond and the woman who has emerged as the champion for teachers, Diane Ravitch. Nine area teacher union locals cooperated to organize the event, and in spite of driving rain, the huge Sacramento Convention Center was packed with more than 3,000 people.
This was by far the largest crowd I have ever addressed. Here is the message I shared.
I spent 24 years working in the Oakland schools, and most of the last decade of that, our district was under state control. I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that Governor Brown was correct when he said Wednesday:
"I have a hunch principals and teachers know the most" (about how to improve our schools.)
Governor Brown and Superintendent Torlakson have rejected Arne Duncan's NCLB waiver process. California is blazing its own path towards better schools.
I want to paint a picture of how schools might be improved, once we get our ship of state onto a better course.
About fifteen years ago, Bret Harte, the Oakland middle school where I worked, had major problems. We had
