Paul Horton: Why Obama's Education Policies Will Not Change and Why "Change is Hard"
Guest post by Paul Horton.
Back before the President was elected, he spoke to the 80th annual convention of the AFT. It is useful to compare the President's speech to the AFT in July of 2008 and his state of the union address last week. In his state of the Union speech of 2013, he spoke of states "voluntarily" complying with the DODd's Race to the Top program. He is fond of saying that learning "is more than bubble tests," and that "change is hard."
It is also interesting to note that the President began this year's state of the union speech with a compliment to teachers--an election cycle is approaching--but that he stuck with the "bubble test" line, and, most importantly, with the "change is hard" line.
My guess is that he dropped the "voluntary" line because many teachers, students, and parents don't buy it anymore. Too many folks know too much.
I have just taken a closer look at the history of Illinois compliance. This example might be similar to what happened in many other states. On January 13 and 14 of 2010, Governor Quinn and