December 2015 Is Gone, and So Is Arne Duncan– But USDOE Nonsense Remains | deutsch29

December 2015 Is Gone, and So Is Arne Duncan– But USDOE Nonsense Remains | deutsch29:

December 2015 Is Gone, and So Is Arne Duncan– But USDOE Nonsense Remains

December 2015 is gone, and so is US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, whoannounced in October that he would be leaving DC in December.

In this January 02, 2016, NBC “Meet the Press” article, President Obama offers an unsubstantiated statement in an effort to portray Duncan’s tenure in Washington, DC, as successful:

“Arne has dedicated his life to the cause of education — and sometimes in the nicest possible way, he has gotten on people’s nerves because he has pushed them and prodded them,” Obama said at the signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

“Had he not been, I believe, as tenacious as he was, I think that we would not have as good of a product as we do here today. And so I could not be prouder of Arne Duncan,” the president added.

I wonder exactly what that “as good of a product” is. Obama isn’t offering details.

The NBC article is generous in its assessment (funny word choice) of Duncan’s accomplishments. For example, NBC credits Duncan with “helping convince” states to adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS):

Duncan helped convince 42 states to adopt education goals based on the Common Core, and 21 of them to use tests that directly align with those standards, which were created by a bi-partisan group and attempt to both make U.S. schools more challenging and the curriculum more similar from state-to-state.

Recall that CCSS was supposedly “state led.” Too, the wording that CCSS was an “attempt” to make schools more challenging is wording polished to a glossy sheen given the rush to write and implement CCSS before America knew what had hit it.

And let me add a corrective finger wag to NBC– CCSS isn’t supposed to be acurriculum— even though taking hold of standards on one end and assessments on the other will indeed drive the curriculum in the middle.

Arne was just “helping” with all of this.

Note, however, that the CCSS push was in the works before Duncan arrived in 2009 December 2015 Is Gone, and So Is Arne Duncan– But USDOE Nonsense Remains | deutsch29: