CURMUDGUCATION: The Future for Duncan and King

CURMUDGUCATION: The Future for Duncan and King:

The Future for Duncan and King

Let me join the sixty gazillion people who will have something to say about the news from the US Education Department. I'll make my comments in the form of predictions.

Duncan will spend his last couple of months doing what he's been doing for years-- making statements that sound pretty good, connecting them to terrible policies, and generally being ignored by Congress.

Some people will be really excited that he is leaving. These will be the same people who felt certain that Duncan was some sort of rogue agent, sneaking off to implement terrible policies behind the President's back, instead of the President's Guy, a cabinet bro who did just what Obama wanted him to. There have been fewer and fewer of these people over the years, but they still exist, and they still think that when Duncan leaves USED, things will get better. These folks should try investing in Floridian swampland.

Everyone east of the Mississippi who has been paying attention will express horror that former New York state ed chief John King had been names Duncan's replacement. In terms of policy, these two are cut from the same cloth. King loves him some Big Standardized Tests, test-based teacher evaluations, Common Core, and a whole world of privatization via barely-regulated charters. King has a hell of a personal story, from which he has failed to learn some critical lessons (a teacher changed his life, and he would like to install a system that would strap such a teacher to a giant CURMUDGUCATION: The Future for Duncan and King: