“President Obama supports quality charter schools” by Secretary Arne Duncan Dept. Ed

[jody]

President Obama supports quality charter schools

May 03, 2010, 5:30AM
I want to clear up confusion regarding President Barack Obama administration's position on charter schools, in the wake of the defeat of a proposed charter school bill in the Alabama Legislature.

For the record, we support high-quality charter schools. The president has encouraged states to lift caps on charters so innovative school models can flourish. Our proposed 2011 budget also boosts funding for charters and other innovative school models. Lastly, the Race to the Top competition explicitly provides 40 points for having a robust charter law with strong accountability provisions.

We believe charter schools can play a strong and significant role in improving education and offering high-quality options in underserved communities. We also believe they should be held accountable to the same standards as other schools.

Arne Duncan
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
Washington, D.C.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I would like an EXACT definition of "high quality".

[saracat]

2. Disgusting.But then no one really cares do they? The Dems are doing what the GOP

always dreamed of, abolishing the public education system. Arne Duncan is an abomination, but I am sure he will have his defenders.

[mopinko]

3. charters work in chicago

one size does not fit all. the parents who are looking for options are usually looking for help for a kid who is not thriving in the public schools. for the kids who are expelled, for drop outs and throw aways, for the kids who are in crisis, or for the families that want language emersion, arts centered curricula, for all kinds of kids.
charters are held by the teacher's union, by universities, by other non-profits.
charters can and do get yanked. the review process is real. there is accountability on many fronts.
what matters is that children thrive. whatever they come from. whatever a family cannot provide, the schools just must. not on the teachers back, hopefully. but if children are not lifted out of ignorance by the schools, what good are they. we must educate the kids we actually have instead of dreaming for a better day when all the children are above average.

the common schools are great for a wide swath of kids. but there are many more who are ill served and sometimes even destroyed by their school experience. those children are legally entitled to an appropriate education. the common schools can not be everything to everyone. some kids are different.

here, they get a chance. arne duncan is a good man with a broad understanding of the human condition and the workings of a big city school system. like it or not, it has entered the 21st century in many ways thanks to richard m daley and arne duncan.
i am here. my kids are in these schools. i tell you, it has been a sea change.
give these guys a chance.
please

[adnelson60087]

4. As a fellow Illinoisan, I will not give any of these hucksters a chance

to foul up school systems from sea to shining sea simply because Chicago schools are a disgrace. Poverty will do that to any system, and the sooner guys like Obama and Duncan, 2 Republicans in Democratic skins, are exposed for the shams and poorly-concieved notions they espouse, the better. Let's try funding the schools like the Pentagon. Or holding parents responsible for their kids' learning AWAY from schools? Ohhh, how about actually really addressing funding inequities in IL, not to mention across the nation? Nah, it's just so much easier to blame the teachers. Yeah, that''s the ticket....

[mopinko]

5. nobody is blaming the teachers.

and all the schools in chicago are not a disgrace. some are, to be sure. but actually there are many, many really outstanding neighborhood schools. and since mayor daley has been in charge, there have been improvements every year.
the old school boards were a disgrace, if anything. if you think that nobody has made fat profits off the chicago schools, i got a bridge for you. the old 17 member board was full of people with contracts for everything from text books to toilet paper.

again, it can be done right. it is being done right. my son did a year with americorp at a bronzeville university of illinois charter. the kids he tutored gained 3 grades in math. there is nothing exclusive about the school. it is an ordinary neighborhood school. in a very sad neighborhood. where university research, lessons learned at the u of c lab school, one of the best schools in the flippin' WORLD, gets used to lift poor kids up to where they can compete. how can people not get that i wonder.

[Dinger]

8. Oh Yes They Are

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234590

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Riley18]

6. Teachers need to remember this corporate sellout in 2012.

[Dinger]

9. Oh Yes,

Will!


Yes We Will! Yes we will!