Monday, February 1, 2010

Arne Duncan Talks Education to Politico

The good people over at Politico.com sat down with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and talked about the future role of the federal government in our schools.

Part 1: Data Firewalls



Politico: What are the programs you don't want to see cut.

Duncan: Well, obviously things like Race to the Top. We've seen-- before we've spent a dime-- we've seen massive change around the country. Forty-eight states working on common standards. Many, many states reducing restrictions on innovation. Folks tearing down data firewalls between teacher performance and student achievement. And so, programs like that.


Tearing down the firewalls between teacher performance and student achievement. I hope someone got a raise for coming up with that one.



Part 2: The Truth




Duncan: I think we’ve been, as a country, far too reluctant to tell the truth,” he said. “The truth can be good, it can be bad, it can be ugly, it can be somewhere in the middle. It could be that a school isn’t working or the school is doing a phenomenal job. Or a district or, for that matter, a state. Or take it all the way down to the classroom.



Part 3: Childhood Obesity





Politico: You've recently met with the First Lady on her anti-obesity efforts. What's going to be your part in that?

Duncan: All of us have to work together to make sure that our students are healthy. There is so much that I want to do to improve academic achievement. But if students aren't safe, they can't see the blackboard, they don't have clues, if they're not eating the right types of foods, they are not going to be successful academically. These, to me, are like foundational building blocks to making sure students have a chance to fulfill their true academic and social potential.



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