CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Still Oblivious

CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Still Oblivious:

Duncan Still Oblivious

Riding along with Arne Duncan on the back-to-school bus tour, Alyson Klein had the opportunity to do a little Q & A with Arne Duncan. The discussion indicates that there are some things that Arne just doesn't get. I recommend reading the whole piece, but there are a few moments I'd like to zero in on.

Accountability

In the midst of discussing whether or not certain reporting categories may have masked or weakened accountability, Arne says this:

Accountability means different things to different folks. What we're asking for in the bill is not just data, which some would say is accountability, and not just transparency, which some would say is accountability, but actual action. And I think what we've been focused on the whole time with waivers is trying to transform low-performing schools.

So it's not real accountability until the big bosses tell you what you have to do next. It's a view of accountability that really tells us a lot about how Duncan sees the power dynamic. It's not just that the federal government is entitled to get whatever information they want to have, but that they are also entitled to tell the local entity what to do about any inadequacies that the feds diagnose.

Or to put it another way, in Duncan's vision of accountability, if a local district isn't getting results that the feds consider satisfactory, then that local district loses the right to local control.

This is one of the (many) ways in which the corporate management model doesn't fit democratic CURMUDGUCATION: Duncan Still Oblivious: