TFA Makes A Statement On DeVos
Today Betsy DeVos was offered and accepted the Secretary of Education position in Trump’s cabinet. Her entire strategy for improving this country’s schools can, it seems, be boiled down to one word: “choice.”
Here is a speech she made in 2014 which includes this quote “The traditional education industry is really good at two things: Bucking and criticizing change and protecting grown up jobs.”
Her theory of the power of choice fits in well with Trump’s idea to divert $20 billion in federal money from public schools for school choice including vouchers for private school. Trump, in the announcement, said “Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.”
One thing Teach For America is quite good at is promoting itself and the modern ed ‘reform’ movement. During the Obama administration, especially, TFA has gotten a lot of taxpayer money to help grow and has been very public about supporting various reform strategies, like Common Core and school and teacher accountability based on value-added teacher ratings. When the reform movement rebranded itself a bit by replacing Arne TFA Makes A Statement On DeVos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog: