U.S. schools chief to push disclosure of education data

[n2doc]

Education secretary Arne Duncan will call on districts across the nation to make information on teachers public.



By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
August 25, 2010


U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will call for all states and school districts to make public whether their instructors are doing enough to raise students' test scores and to share other school-level information with parents, according to a text of a speech he is scheduled to make Wednesday.

"The truth is always hard to swallow, but it can only make us better, stronger and smarter," according to remarks he plans to deliver in Little Rock, Ark. "That's what accountability is all about — facing the truth and taking responsibility."

The lack of public accountability in California's schools compared with those in some other states could have been a factor Tuesday in the state's failure to win any money in the federal government's competitive Race to the Top education grant program.

State officials had hoped to get up to $700 million, of which $153 million would have gone to the Los Angeles Unified School District. Among the factors judged most heavily in the competition for the money was whether a state linked teachers to their students' standardized test scores; the Obama administration used the grant competition to spur its vision of reform nationwide.

more

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ed-grants-20100825,0,1448546.story

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. You first, Arne

Let's see your data. From when you taught. :)

[LWolf]

3. Yes. I'm waiting.....nt

[n2doc]

4. Don't you just love the part about "facing the truth and taking responsibility?"

How about them Chicago charter schools, Arne? Care to tell the real truth about them?

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I'd settle for data from CPS while Arne was in charge.

That should do the trick.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. What leverage does the DOE have to compel the disclosure?

They're already not sharing federal funds with the states and local municipalities.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Oh they'll come up with something

Maybe public stoning of uncooperative teachers?

[Golden Raisin]

7. "Doing enough to raise students' test scores"

It's all about test scores now. Never mind if the students can actually read proficiently, write, do arithmetic, or God forbid, learn to THINK and reason rationally, explore independently and apply what they've learned in school to real life.

[femmocrat]

8. Not every teacher tests!

Isn't it just grades 3-8, and only math and reading?

Who would want to teach those grades/subjects if their data is made public? There are so many variables in student populations that there is no way it could mean anything. It's just more harassment.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. kick