Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan Must Deal With Rhee, Union
Obama's education pick faces tough choices between unions and revolutionaries, Richard Whitmire writes
With this week's appointment of Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as President-elect Obama's new education secretary, the education "reformers" are congratulating themselves. The tough guy who shut down failing schools in the Windy City and made the teachers reapply for jobs is just the secretary needed in Washington, they figure. Maybe.
Here's something you need to know about Duncan. Last summer, warring education camps squared off with opposing manifestos—school reformers who say vastly improved schools can rescue otherwise doomed poor kids versus social reformers who maintain that schools can't do it alone. Only one big city schools chief read over each manifesto and decided he could happily sign both: Arne Duncan.
Being an adroit straddler (along with being an Obama basketball buddy) may explain how Duncan got the education secretary nod over the other contenders. Duncan won the endorsement of the very liberal American Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, and the very Republican current secretary of education, Margaret Spellings. Nice straddle, which is exactly what Obama appears to want from his education secretary.
The problem for the straddle strategy is there's a looming obstacle awaiting him in Washington, a very determined Washington schools chief who recently appeared on the cover of Time bearing a stern visage while gripping a large broom—ready to sweep reform into D.C. classrooms that for generations have proved resistant to reform. There's just no finessing Michelle Rhee, who at age 37 was handed the keys to the D.C. system with the full backing of the mayor. She has a delightful way of telling it like it is, mocking critics who complain that holding schools accountable for educating children strips creativity out of the classroom: "If the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job," she told Time. Rhee hails from what Weingarten disdainfully refers to as the "scorched earth" wing of the education reform movement.
Rhee wants to take school reform where no other school chief, including Duncan in Chicago, has dared go: sweeping incompetent teachers from their jobs. That's a confrontation with the teachers' unions that Duncan, who aspires to get along with everyone, would undoubtedly prefer to duck.
Wait, you're thinking. Duncan is secretary of education for the entire country. His department has nothing to do with the modest-sized D.C. school district. Ah, but that's not how it works here. White Houses and federal education departments have a tradition of meddling in D.C. schools, mostly to show off their pet reform theories. That's why D.C. has a federally funded voucher program and supports a huge charter school experiment.
No, Duncan can't duck this fight, where Rhee and the D.C. teachers union have wrestled to mutual headlocks over the issue of giving Clint Eastwood-esque power to Rhee to sort the good from the bad. Here's the offer she made to them, based on extra money promised by foundations: I'll give you unprecedented merit pay increases (teachers, who now average $65,000, could earn as much as $130,000) if you give up the tenure that guarantees lifetime job security).
The local union refused, giving everyone a unique insight into the value teachers place on tenure. In Duncan's home district of Chicago, as in other districts, school chiefs don't even bother to challenge the tenure provisions. That explains why nearly all Chicago teachers in that very troubled urban district get "superior" or "excellent" ratings, and even the handful who get "unsatisfactory" ratings don't get fired.
What Duncan and other school chiefs prefer to neglect, however, can't be sidestepped in Washington. While Rhee may ping in the lower registers of the emotional intelligence range (what was she thinking in agreeing to pose on a Time cover looking like the wicked witch of the East?), she's not an outlier. Rhee is the pointy tip of a revolution determined to take on what Duncan and other school chiefs ignore: basic teacher competency. For decades, too many teachers have arisen from the hindquarter of the SAT scale. In college, they were steered into flaccid undergraduate programs befitting their campus "cash cow" status (would-be teachers pay the same tuition as, say, physics students, but they don't need expensive labs). Once on the job, their promotions are based on often-pointless graduate degrees. This is the one education reform rock that's never truly been turned over.
- 1
- 2
- Next Page >
Reader Comments
Victim of UOP
I attended UOP and it was the worse mistake of my life. Not only was I threatened by financial advisors that if I withdrew my credit would be messed up and no one would want to deal with me because I had bad credit, but the teachers made numerous attempts to break up me and my husband saying that one of them would be better for me, and along with that we were accused of cheating. They also added classes to my schedule and they show on my UOP trascript.
Now they persist on collecting money from me and have reported negatively on my credit report. I applied for a loan to get a new car and was denied because they report a charge-off on credit report. A few days ago they called my mother harrasssing her about how to contact, asked her where do I work, where do I live and for a number to reach me at.
UOP has been nothing but a really bad nightmare for me, only it is a reality. I am not a person who hates, but UOP is seriously making change that thought. I would like nothing more than to put these rip-off artists out of business and behind bars.
A problem, wrapped up in a puzzle, inside a deliema.
University of phoenix
“Give me a break”
Given the financial crisis we are facing in America today, why is the University of Phoenix, (UOP) being allowed to continue enrolling individuals from the lower socio-economic-strata and collect billions in tax payer dollars.
Many of these students barely managed to graduate from what is categorized as poor, inner-city sub-standard schools. UOP, CEO's know in advance, many of these individuals are not going to stay the course because when they are presented with Algebra and English Composition, they are doomed to failure, but by that time, UOP have collected billions in Pell Grants and various student loans.
Further, it is not hard to believe some of UOP’s victims end up in prison, on welfare or living in servitude, again leaving the taxpayers holding the bag.
The hundreds and perhaps thousands of complaints and class action lawsuits that have been filed against UOP would cause anyone to ask, why are they allowed to continue financial assaults on the poor and unsuspecting? The complaints speak for themselves.
Now, I am hearing their degrees are substandard. Many UOP graduates complain when seeking employment, their degrees are not accepted. The same is true when trying to transfer credits to other universities.
Within the discussions, it is also noted, the number one reason the online degrees are often turned down is because UOP does not know who is sitting on the other side of the computer. In other words, it could be someone with a PHD posting the required threads.
UOP students who have had everything taken from them warn if you go against UOP, retaliation is sure to follow. This is outrageous. I am sure UOP have been investigated many times, however, the students continue coming out on the losing end.
It really is time for change. I will be forwarding this message to the Obama administration. Perhaps they can look into this matter and do something about it. I invite you to type into your computers, (University of Phoenix complaints and class action lawsuits). You will not believe the kinds of complaints that have been lodged aganist this so-called educational institution. No wonder America is going broke.
A problem, wrapped up in a puzzle, inside a deliema.
University of phoenix
“Give me a break”
Given the financial crisis we are facing in America today, why is the University of Phoenix, (UOP) being allowed to continue enrolling individuals from the lower socio-economic-strata and collect billions in tax payer dollars.
Many of these students barely managed to graduate from what is categorized as poor, inner-city sub-standard schools. UOP, CEO's know in advance, many of these individuals are not going to stay the course because when they are presented with Algebra and English Composition, they are doomed to failure, but by that time, UOP have collected billions in Pell Grants and various student loans.
Further, it is not hard to believe some of UOP’s victims end up in prison, on welfare or living in servitude, again leaving the taxpayers holding the bag.
The hundreds and perhaps thousands of complaints and class action lawsuits that have been filed against UOP would cause anyone to ask, why are they allowed to continue financial assaults on the poor and unsuspecting? The complaints speak for themselves.
Now, I am hearing their degrees are substandard. Many UOP graduates complain when seeking employment, their degrees are not accepted. The same is true when trying to transfer credits to other universities.
Within the discussions, it is also noted, the number one reason the online degrees are often turned down is because UOP does not know who is sitting on the other side of the computer. In other words, it could be someone with a PHD posting the required threads.
UOP students who have had everything taken from them warn if you go against UOP, retaliation is sure to follow. This is outrageous. I am sure UOP have been investigated many times, however, the students continue coming out on the losing end.
It really is time for change. I will be forwarding this message to the Obama administration. Perhaps they can look into this matter and do something about it. I invite you to type into your computers, (University of Phoenix complaints and class action lawsuits). You will not believe the kinds of complaints that have been lodged aganist this so-called educational institution. No wonder America is going broke.
advertisement
