An Open Letter to Lamar Alexander: Don't Forget Rule #84 in 'The Little Plaid Book' | Diane Ravitch

An Open Letter to Lamar Alexander: Don't Forget Rule #84 in 'The Little Plaid Book' | Diane Ravitch:

An Open Letter to Lamar Alexander: Don't Forget Rule #84 in 'The Little Plaid Book'

 Senator Lamar Alexander

U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C.

Dear Lamar,

I wish I could be in Washington for the hearings about the reauthorization of NCLB. I can't make it for two reasons: I wasn't invited, and I have a date to speak to parents at P.S. 3 in Manhattan who are outraged about all the testing imposed on their children.

I learned a lot about education policy and federalism after you chose me to serve as your Assistant Secretary of Education in charge of research and improvement and as counsel to the Secretary of Education (you). I am imagining that I am still advising you, as I did from 1991 to 1993 (remember that you and every other top administrator in the Department left a day before the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and you told me I was Acting Secretary for the day?). What I always admired about you was your deliberateness, your thoughtfulness, your ability to listen to discordant voices, and your respect for federalism. You didn't think you were smarter than everyone else in the country just because you were a member of the President's Cabinet. You understood federalism. You didn't think it was your job to impose what you wanted on every school in America. You respected the ability of local communities to govern their schools without your supervision or dictation.

NCLB was not informed by your wisdom. It set impossible goals, then established punishments for schools that could not do the impossible. I remember a panel discussion in early 2002 at the Willard Hotel soon after NCLB was signed. You were on the panel. I was in the audience, and I stood up and asked you whether you truly believed that 100% of all children in grades 3-8 would be "proficient" by 2014. You answered, "No, Diane, but we think it is good to have goals." Well, based on goals that you knew were out of reach, teachers and principals have been fired, and many schools -- beloved in their communities -- have been closed.

NCLB has introduced an unprecedented level of turmoil into the nation's public education system. Wearing my conservative hat, I have to say that it's wrong to disrupt the lives of communities, schools, families, and children to satisfy an absurd federal mandate, based on a false premise and based too on the non-existent "Texas miracle." Conservatives are not fire-breathing radicals who seek to destroy community and tradition. Conservatives conserve, conservatives believe in incremental change, not in upheaval and disruption.

I urge you to abandon the annual mandated federal testing in grades 3-8. Little children are sitting for 8-10 hours to take the annual tests in math and reading. As a parent, you surely understand that this is madness. This is why the Opt Out movement is growing across the nation, as parents protest what feels like federally-mandated child abuse.

Do we need to compare the performance of states? NAEP does that already. Anyone who wants to know how Mississippi compares to Massachusetts can look at the NAEP results, which are released every two years. Do we want disaggregated data? NAEP reports scores by race, gender, English language proficiency, and disability status. How will we learn about achievement gaps if we don't test every child annually? NAEP reports that too. In short, we already have the information that everyone says they want and need.

NCLB has forced teachers to teach to the test; that once was considered unethical and unprofessional, but now it is an accepted practice in schools across the country. NCLB has caused many schools to spend more time and resources on test prep, interim assessments, and testing. That means narrowing the curriculum: when testing matters so much, there is less time for the arts, physical education, foreign languages, civics, and other valuable studies and activities. Over this past dozen years, there have been numerous examples of states gaming the system and educators cheating because the tests determine whether schools will live or die, and whether educators will get a bonus or be fired.

I urge you to enact what you call "option one," grade span testing, and to abandon annual testing. If you keep annual testing in the law, states and districts will continue to engage in the mis-education that NCLB incentivized. Bad habits die hard, if at all.

Just say no to annual testing. No high-performing nation does it, and neither should we. We are the most over-tested nation in the world, and it's time to encourage children to sing, dance, play instruments, write poetry, imagine stories, create videos, make science projects, write history papers, and discover the joy of learning.

As I learned from you, the U.S. Department of Education should not act as a National School Board. The Secretary of Education is not the National Superintendent of Schools. The past dozen years of centralizing control of education in Washington, D.C., has not been good for education or for democracy.

The law governing the activities of the U.S. Department of Education states clearly that no federal official should attempt to "exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, [or] administration....of any educational institution." When I was your Assistant Secretary and Counselor, I was very much aware of that prohibition. For the past dozen years, it seems to have been forgotten. Just a few years ago, the current administration funded tests for the Common Core standards, which will most assuredly exert control over the curriculum and program of instruction. The federal tests will determine what is taught.

The nation has seen a startling expansion of federal power over local community public schools since the passage of NCLB. There is certainly an important role for the federal government in assuring equality of educational opportunity and informing the American people about the progress of education. But the federal role today is taking on responsibilities that belong to states and local districts. The key mechanism for that takeover is annual testing, the results of which are used to dictate other policies of dubious legality and validity, like evaluating teachers and even colleges of education by student test scores.

Sir, please revise the federal law so that it authorizes the federal government to do what it does best: protecting the rights of children, gathering data, sponsoring research, encouraging the improvement of teaching, funding special education, and distributing resources to the neediest districts to help the neediest students (which was the original purpose of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965).

In closing, may I remind you of something you wrote in your book of advice:

No. 84: Read anything Diane Ravitch writes about education.

- Lamar Alexander, Little Plaid Book, page 44

I agree with you.

Yours truly,

Diane Ravitch

Follow Diane Ravitch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DianeRavitch

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No Child Left BehindLamar AlexanderStandardized TestingTesting

An Open Letter to Lamar Alexander: Don't Forget Rule #84 in 'The Little Plaid Book' | Diane Ravitch: 

People's Bill #1 (PB1): Legislator Accountability Bill | BustED Pencils

People's Bill #1 (PB1): Legislator Accountability Bill | BustED Pencils:

People’s Bill #1 (PB1): Legislator Accountability Bill

Posted January 20, 2015 by Tim Slekar

Today I put forth PB1 (People’s Bill #1) Legislator Accountability Bill.

This Bill was drafted by members of ALECFLA (American Legislative Exchange Council for Legislator Accountability).

Bill Summary

• This bill would require all legislators produce a weekly information sheet detailing any and all work paid for the people of the state.
• This bill would require that all meetings between legislators and lobbyists are disclosed and a meeting transcript be made available to the people of the state.
• This bill would require that all financial contributions be published weekly and any draft legislation attached to said contributions be disclosed immediately.
• This bill would require that each legislator post and keep weekly office hours for the people of the state.
• This bill would require that the each legislative body (house and senate) develop a data gathering system and legislative report card.
• This bill would require that individual legislator report cards detail legislator effectiveness.
• Legislator effectiveness will be determined using Value Added Legislator (VALs) People's Bill #1 (PB1): Legislator Accountability Bill | BustED Pencils:

President Spotlights Education Access During Annual State of the Union Address ACTE

ACTE:

President Spotlights Education Access During Annual State of the Union Address

ALEXANDRIA, VA –The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) today lauded President Obama’s emphasis on the importance of additional skills for all students during his State of the Union Address.

“To make sure folks keep earning higher wages down the road, we have to do more to help Americans upgrade their skills,” Obama said. “America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free, sent a generation of GIs to college and trained the best workforce in the world.  But in a 21st century economy that rewards knowledge like never before, we need to do more.”

During his address, the president referenced his recently announced America’s College Promise proposal, which could increase opportunity for Americans nationwide to obtain valuable postsecondary CTE credentials in growing fields. He also emphasized the need for strong business-education partnerships, like those established by many CTE programs around the country.

“President Obama’s attention to postsecondary education access and skills training issues in his address provides important recognition of our nation’s duty to equitably prepare every student for college and career success,” said ACTE Executive Director LeAnn Wilson. “I’m also encouraged by the increased attention that this administration has given CTE as an established mechanism for increasing access to economic opportunity and strengthening the foundation of the American workforce. Hopefully, the president, his Administration and Congress will continue this momentum and recognize the need to build our federal investment in CTE through proven approaches, including the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.”

Tuesday proved to be a big night for CTE educators as well. ACTE member Lisa Barnett, a CTE coordinator at Botetourt Country public school district, and Katrice Mubiru, a CTE teacher for Los Angeles unified school district, attended the address as special guests of Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and First Lady Michele Obama, respectively. The inclusion of CTE professionals as guests at this important event underscores the growing appreciation for CTE in Washington and nationwide, and will help to spread public support for these vital programs.

As the nation’s largest association of education professionals dedicated to preparing students for college and career success, ACTE supports policies that will connect secondary and postsecondary level students with relevant, real-world learning opportunities that prepare them to meet workforce demands in growing career fields.

About ACTE

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) is the nation’s largest not-for-profit association committed to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. ACTE represents the community of CTE professionals, including educators, administrators, researchers, guidance counselors and others at all levels of education. ACTE is committed to excellence in providing advocacy, public awareness and access to resources, professional development and leadership opportunities.

Here’s the Full Text of President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union

State of the Union Humor

I have no more campaigns to run. 

I know, cuz I won both of them.

Colo. principal says she was fired over "disrespectful" policy towards poor children - CBS News

Colo. principal says she was fired over "disrespectful" policy towards poor children - CBS News:



Colo. principal says she was fired over "disrespectful" policy towards poor children

Noelle Roni was principal at Peak to Peak Charter School for 9 years.  CBS DENVER

• 
  

LAFAYETTE, Colo.  – An elementary school principal says she was fired for protecting children from humiliation.

Noelle Roni says she fought against a policy requiring kids to get their hands stamped if they don’t have enough money in their lunch account. She was fired from Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette in the fall.

“The kids are humiliated. They’re branded. It’s disrespectful. Where’s the human compassion? And these are little children,” she said.

Roni was principal for nine years before being fired. She calls it a wrongful termination, and wants her job back.

Peak to Peak charter school in Colorado

 CBS

 “If we have to, we’ll file suit,” she said. “When I see something that I feel harms children, I speak up.”

School attorney Barry Arrington said the school won’t discuss personnel matters in depth, but he called the allegations absurd. He said in a statement “Three outside lawyers agree her claims are baseless.”

Roni said she had passionate discussions with her bosses before, but she was stunned by their response.

“I was shocked that their reaction was not outrage. That it was more of ‘Who are you to tell us not to do this?’ ” she said.

Many parents of students at the school say they are upset by the firing. They think Roni was the victim of politics.

On Monday, parents met at a church in Erie to discuss recalling two of the school’s board members.

“I feel she was bullied, and we want her back,” one parent said.

Testing Games: I Volunteer, Sir BY BONNIE MARGOLIN

Testing Games:

Testing Games: I Volunteer, Sir

BY BONNIE MARGOLIN

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The Testing Games: Know Your Odds, Know Your Options. #BeATribute – I Volunteer, Sir

Here in Florida, our public school students are engaged in what I like to refer to as The Testing Games. Based upon the recent blockbuster, The Hunger Games, I have taken to making comparisons between the battlefield in the movie and the school environment that we have established for our students. The similarities are uncanny.

The obvious comparison is the idea that education is some form of competition. We know this concept is a popular one, just based upon the fact that our own US President named his education reform, The Race to the Top. In this race, states are encouraged to create education policies based on test scores. Student promotion, teacher evaluations, and school grades are all based on test scores. Funding is then tied to the student achievement. In simple terms, how well the students race decides how much money the schools get in funding.

Talk about pressure on children. Walking into school on these test days is eerily as overwhelming to students as the anxiety felt by the young warriors headed out to fight inThe Hunger Games.While our students “test for funding”, the warriors in the film had to fight to win food for their district. Just as our students know low test scores can cause them to be retained or to drop out, often ending their academic lives, the young warriors in the movie knew they were also in a fight for their lives.

And, let’s not forget, in our twisted reality, The Testing Games, children are forced into this competitive arena of multiple choice tests as early as kindergarten.

Yes, kindergarten.

I say, enough is enough. So, here is my request to our President:

In The Hunger Games, the main character, Katniss, volunteered to fight in the place of her little sister. She knew her sister was too young and the consequences were too dire. So, in a selfless act of courage, she volunteered herself. Even in this horrible, dystopian world, the characters were Testing Games:

Why so many teachers feel so bad so much of the time - The Washington Post

Why so many teachers feel so bad so much of the time - The Washington Post:

Why so many teachers feel so bad so much of the time

It’s no secret that most teachers today feel demoralized — poll after survey tells us so, and it’s no wonder, given that they feel school reformers have put targets on their backs with teacher evaluation systems they feel are unfair and support for programs that they believe belittle their profession. In this post an educator explains why she thinks so many teachers feel so awful so much of the time. The author is  Ellie Herman, who took a rather unorthodox path to the world of education.

For two decades she was a writer/producer for television shows including “The Riches,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Chicago Hope” and “Newhart.” She wrote fiction that appeared in literary journals, among them The Massachusetts Review, The Missouri Review and the O.Henry Awards Collection. Then, in 2007, she decided “on an impulse” to become an English teacher. She got a job at a South Los Angeles charter school that was 97 percent Latino and where 96 percent of the students lived below the poverty line. She taught drama, creative writing, English 11 and ninth-grade Composition until 2013, when she decided to stop teaching and spend a year visiting classrooms and learning from other teachers.

Herman chronicled the lessons she learned on her blog, Gatsby in L.A., where a version of the following post appeared. Herman, who gave me permission to publish this piece, was awarded first and third place prizes in the 2014 SoCal Journalist Awards given by the Los Angeles Press Club for pieces on her blog. Now she teaches reading and writing at an after-school enrichment program for students from low-income families, visits the classrooms of great teachers, and works with writers, artists and other creative people.

She has written some popular posts on this blog, including “Are you a bad teacher? Here’s how to tell,” to which she refers in the following piece.

By Ellie Herman

Every day people click on a post I wrote a while ago called “Are you a bad teacher?” On some days it seems as if an infection of self-doubt has burst across the profession, evidenced by the search terms they use, which include terms such as “I’m a horrible teacher” and “I’m a rubbish teacher” and “Why am I a terrible teacher?” So why are so many teachers agonizing over the possibility that they might be bad?

Is this agonized self-doubt found across most professions? Is there a dentist blogging out there whose most popular post is “Are You A Bad Dentist?” Are there neurosurgeons out there agonizing that they might be rubbish neurosurgeons? Do accountants lie sleepless at 2 a.m. worrying that they are horrible accountants?

Maybe. (And in the case of some dentists, like the one I had when I was a child, they probably should start.) But I doubt it. I suspect that teachers’ obsession with whether they might be horrible or terrible or rubbish might have to do with a variety of external factors, and these factors are Why so many teachers feel so bad so much of the time - The Washington Post:

Does No Child Left Behind nurture a culture of cheating? « Watchdog.org

Does No Child Left Behind nurture a culture of cheating? « Watchdog.org:

Does No Child Left Behind nurture a culture of cheating?

By Evan Grossman  /   January 19, 2015  /   No Comments

 By Evan Grossman | Watchdog.org

With millions in federal money and jobs at stake, has No Child Left Behind created an incentive for teachers to cheat on standardized tests?

The high-stakes testing required by NCLB has been one of the most controversial elements of the federal law, passed in 2001. Those tests are meant to measure students’ academic growth, but, increasingly, they’ve been used as a yardstick for teachers and administrators.

Shutterstock photo

WRONG ANSWER: No Child Left Behind’s high-stakes testing tempts educators to cheat.

Some opponents of the high-stakes testing argue it has created a toxic culture that incentivizes cheating, deception and fraud.

“As in any profession, when the pressure is high enough, some people cross the ethical line,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

“When jobs and self-esteem depend solely on getting test scores up by any means necessary, cheating is one type of negative fallout that occurs.”

FairTest is working to overhaul NCLB, along with state and local policies and what Schaeffer calls the “gross overkill” of administering more than 100 standardized tests over the course of a pupil’s academic career.

“That’s way over the top,” he  said. “And it has produced a number of negative side effects, including cheating.”

Among the most explosive arguments against NCLB is it turns American schools into factories of felons. FairTest published a fact sheet in 2010 stating high-stakes testing dulls the curriculum, drives students to drop out and puts them on the street, where they are “much more likely to end up in trouble or in prison.”

But now it’s the teachers being led away in cuffs.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane recently announced the eighth arrest in an ongoing investigation into widespread cheating in Philadelphia public schools. Lolamarie Davis-O’Rourke was the fourth principal pinched in a probe of more than 50 schools. Davis-O’Rourke is accused of changing Pennsylvania System of School Assessment answers in an effort to achieve higher marks at Alain Locke Elementary school.

In the past five years, cheating cases have been documented in 40 states.

In Atlanta, 178 principals and teachers were accused in 2011 of cheating on standardized tests. Prosecutors charge they formed a conspiracy to protect their jobs and win bonuses, while federal funds earmarked for failing students went elsewhere because it appeared the students in those schools were scoring so well.

Borne of the poverty-fighting Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, NCLB was designed in 2001 to fund schools in poor pockets of the country. Underachieving districts qualify for federal money to help shore up test proficiency but also are subject to government intervention if progress is not seen in standardized test Does No Child Left Behind nurture a culture of cheating? « Watchdog.org:

BBC News - School reforms: OECD calls for evidence on what works

BBC News - School reforms: OECD calls for evidence on what works:

School reforms: OECD calls for evidence on what works

By Sean CoughlanEducation correspondent, BBC News

 Trillions of dollars are spent on education reforms around the world without any effective evaluation to see if changes have worked, says the OECD.

The economic think-tank is warning there is too much political investment in announcing new policies, rather than checking on what they achieve.

Only about one in 10 education reforms launched since 2006 have been assessed for their impact, the OECD says.

The report is being launched at the Education World Forum in London.

This international conference of education ministers and experts is being told that schools policy needs more emphasis on long-term evidence rather than short-term, politically driven changes of direction.

Time to work

"Too many education reforms are failing to measure success or failure in the classroom," said Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director for education and skills.

"While it is encouraging to see a greater focus on outcomes, rather than simply increasing spending, it's crucial that reforms are given the time to work and their impact is analysed."

Only about a tenth of education reforms are ever evaluated, says the OECD

Education is one of the biggest areas of public spending - and across the OECD it represents more than $2.5 trillion in annual expenditure.

Pressure to raise standards has prompted 450 different programmes of reform in the past eight years, says the OECD.

But only about a tenth of these reform programmes have ever been tested for their effectiveness since they were launched, says the think-tank's report.

Implementation of education reforms can take 10 to 15 years, says Mr Schleicher, much longer than is demanded by the political cycle.

It can mean that incoming ministers are under pressure to announce new policies without any clear assessment of the half-completed previous policies they are replacing.

"This valuable investment must be deployed in the most effective way. Reforms on paper need to translate into better education in our schools and classrooms," says Mr Schleicher.

Last week the former head of English education watchdog Ofsted, Sir BBC News - School reforms: OECD calls for evidence on what works:

Education reform worth stopping - MICHAEL J. HYNES - Newsday

Education reform worth stopping - MICHAEL J. HYNES - Newsday:

Education reform worth stopping

Updated January 19, 2015 6:01 AM
By MICHAEL J. HYNES

I love and believe in public education. As a school superintendent, I am fortunate to work with children, parents, teachers, administrators, staff and community members.

Unfortunately, public education is under assault -- by an overemphasis on testing students and the "command and control" mentality of the state Education Department and the U.S. Department of Education -- and we are on a road that will lead to a hard crash. That's because the departments are paving the road just as we drive on it. We have no say about the road conditions, how fast we must move or what our destination is.

When we do crash, what will happen to our children?

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education crafted a report titled "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform" at the behest of the federal government. As I read it recently, I asked myself: If our nation was at risk years ago, are we in a better place now? To my surprise, when I finished and compared the report's recommendations to our reality in New York and the United States, they seem like a better alternative.

I found these items absent from that report:

Test children into oblivion.

Use children's test results to grade and assess teachers and principals.

Do not trust anyone at the local level.

Ensure government has significant influence over teacher accountability systems and assessments. It should decide what is best for children.

Guarantee corporations will make billions of dollars in the age of compliance and testing.

The recommendations by the commission -- which included college and university presidents and other education experts -- were meant for us to consider and possibly act on in an effort to make education more effective. I found the following report recommendations enlightening:

Focus on scholarly literature and on the quality of learning and teaching. Best practices dictate that teachers need time to collaborate with each other and students need to be inspired by their teachers and encouraged to take risks. That's almost impossible in this climate.

Examine, compare and contrast curricula, standards and expectations of several advanced countries. The federal and state education departments did not listen to this recommendation. If you look at top-performing countries, you won't find an overreliance on standardizing and testing. They don't reduce people by ranking and sorting. They have curricula focused on critical thinking, problem solving and project-based learning.

Hold hearings to receive testimony and expert advice to foster higher levels of quality and academic excellence in schools, colleges and universities. I don't recall hearing any testimony from experts when the new standards or tests were developed. But I think billionaire businessman Bill Gates and publishing giant Pearson Education were contacted. In my opinion, big business prevailed.

Ironically, we can learn from "A Nation at Risk." As education historian Diane Ravitch wrote in her book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System," the "Nation at Risk" report "did not refer to market-based competition and choice among schools; it did not suggest restructuring schools or school systems. It said nothing about closing schools, privatization or other heavy handed forms of accountability."

What's the alternative? We need to trust the local control of our schools. I believe in the capacity of our teachers and administrators individually and collectively. Our focus must be on districts collaborating, teachers taking risks in the classroom and principals focusing on building more meaningful Education reform worth stopping - MICHAEL J. HYNES - Newsday:

#OccupyPlayGround School children tear gassed after playground Privatized

School children tear gassed after playground protest | New York Post:

School children tear gassed after playground protest

 Kenyan police fired tear gas into a crowd of Nairobi school children on Monday as the youngsters and adults protested against what they call an illegal confiscation of a playground.

A police spokesman said authorities were investigating the incident and planned to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officers involved.

“Apparently a level of force which is not commensurate to the persons involved was used,” said Masoud Mwinyi, adding that four adults had also been arrested.

Police were seen firing at least three canisters of tear gas just outside the Langata Primary School as several hundred students attempted to knock down a wall surrounding the playground.

They were protesting what they called an illegal “land grab”, and a plan to turn the space into a car park.

Children wearing bright green school uniforms dashed away from the scene, some coughing and choking and covering their faces with bits of clothing. Activists said they believed eight children were hospitalized for exposure to tear gas and other injuries.

“They were trying to access that playground, and it’s actually their playground,” said activist Boniface Mwangi, who took part in the protest. “We are very happy that the kids were brave enough to bring down the wall.”

A jubilant crowd of children eventually made their way onto the land, where they danced and began an impromptu football match.

Many Kenyans took to social media to express outrage over the incident using the Twitter hashtag “OccupyPlayGround”.School children tear gassed after playground protest | New York Post:

With Public Schools Under Attack, What Would Martin Say? | Common Dreams

With Public Schools Under Attack, What Would Martin Say? | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community:

With Public Schools Under Attack, What Would Martin Say?

by

Yohuru Williams

'King saw the goal of education as more than performance on high-stakes tests or the acquisition of job skills or career competencies. He saw it as the cornerstone of free thought and the use of knowledge in the public interest.' (Photo: Archive)

This year marked the fiftieth anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation in US history. It also has marked a renewed push by the proponents of corporate education reform to dismantle public education in what they persist in referring to as the great “civil rights issue of our time.” The leaders of this effort, including US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, are fond of appropriating the language of the civil rights movement to justify their anti-union, anti-teacher, pro-testing privatization agenda. But they are not social justice advocates. And Arne Duncan is no Reverend King.

In a 2010 speech observing the forty-fifth anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, Duncan boldly invoked the words of John Kennedy: “Simple justice requires that public funds . . . not be spent in any fashion which encourages, subsidizes, or results in racial discrimination.” Duncan enjoined those in attendance, “Let me repeat that, President Kennedy said that no taxpayer dollars should be spent if they subsidize or result in racial discrimination.” Yet Duncan and the Obama Administration—through Race to the Top, a program similar to the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind—have pursued policies that exacerbate segregation and racial inequality.

In a 2010 interview with then-chancellor of the New York City Department of Education Joel Klein, Duncan went even further, invoking the name of Martin Luther King to justify attacks on public schools. Dr. King “explained in his powerful Letter from Birmingham Jail why the civil rights movement could not wait,” said Duncan. “America today cannot wait to transform education. We’ve been far too complacent and too passive. We have perpetuated poverty and social failure for far too long. The need is urgent and the time for change is now.”

But there is plenty of evidence that King would never have endorsed corporate education reform or privatization. Consider how King defined the role of education.

While still an undergraduate at Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1947, King said: “I too often find that most college men have a misconception of the purpose of education.” They “think that education should equip them with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses.” He continued: “Still others think that education should furnish them with noble ends rather than means to an end.”

Here, King plainly laid out two visions of education that continue to war against each other. While he acknowledged the importance of an education in preparing persons for the workforce, enabling “man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life,” he also saw a much deeper purpose.

“We must remember,” King warned, “that intelligence is not enough . . . Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” He asserted, “The complete education gives With Public Schools Under Attack, What Would Martin Say? | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community: