New Education Secretary to Teachers: Our Bad
John King on Thursday said federal officials are partially responsible for the contentious climate surrounding education reform.
Acting Education Secretary John King offered teachers an olive branch of sorts Thursday, acknowledging his department's role in creating a politicized education environment that sometimes led to them being painted as villains.
"As everyone in this room knows, the education policy discussions of the last few years have often been characterized by more heat than light," he said to a room of teachers at the School of the Future in Philadelphia, a public school formed through a partnership between the city school district and Microsoft that focuses on digital learning.
"And despite the best of intentions, teachers and principals have felt attacked and unfairly blamed for the challenges our nation faces as we strive to improve outcomes for all students," King said.
He continued: "All of us – at the local, state and federal level, the Education Department included – have to take responsibility for the climate that exists. There is no question that the contentious tone has made it harder to have productive conversations."
King, in what was an honest speech that included personal stories about his tough upbringing, specifically addressed the Education Department's laser-like focus on getting states to adopt new teacher evaluations that take into account student test scores – a priority he acknowledged was largely to blame for the difficult relationship that's transpired between the department and those in the teaching profession over the past seven years.
"I'll start by being frank – if maybe also obvious – and say this conversation hasn't always gone well," King said. "A discussion that began with shared interests and shared values – the importance of learning and growth for all our children – ended up with a lot of teachers feeling attacked and blamed."
The Obama administration's hallmark competitive grant program, Race to the Top, and its offer of waivers from the then-federal education law, No Child Left Behind, both pushed states to adopt new evaluation systems. But King conceded that teachers were not always adequately engaged by policymakers in the development of those systems.
"And when they disagreed with evaluation systems, it appeared to pit them against those who they cherished most – their students," he said. "That was no one's desire."
The new federal education law replacing No Child Left Behind, King said, gives everyone a "fresh start" and a "much needed do-over." Moving forward, he emphasized, teachers and principals must be part of the state- and district-level conversations about plans to implement the K-12 law, which shifts a significant amount of control away from the federal level.
King characterized teacher evaluations as "the elephant in the room," but said they are a critical part of any conversation about teaching and the professions.
And despite his previous comments about not always being inclusive of teachers, King reiterated the Obama administration's continued belief that students' test scores should be part of an evaluation system, along with a varietEducation Secretary John King Apologizes for Politicized Education Atmosphere - US News: