Live-blogging Fordham's pre-k debate
We're fifteen minutes into Fordham's big debate on universal preschool, designed to discuss Checker Finn's latest book,??R
We're fifteen minutes into Fordham's big debate on universal preschool, designed to discuss Checker Finn's latest book,??R
Steve Barnett, the co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, ceded no ground to Checker. He came out of his corner swinging and never stopped. The book is "inaccurate and poorly reasoned," "cherry picks" the evidence, and is full of "errors and exaggerations."
Neal McLuskey from CATO is up and he mostly agrees with Checker. (This is more surprising than you might think. We don't generally agree on much.) But he has two additional points: 1. Over time, programs like Head Start get captured by the people who are employed by them.
Sara Mead of the New America Foundation is taking her turn. She started by holding up Checker's book and commenting (correctly) how similar its cover looks to that of her favorite children's book, The Little Engine that Could. (Still, trust me, don't show Checker's book cover to a small child.
That's what Steve Barnett charged. He thinks Checker is arguing to "hold back" the middle class so that poor kids can catch up and close the achievement gap. Needless to say, Checker doesn't agree with that characterization, but admits that he agrees with (not-so-far-left) liberal Bruce Fuller, who believes in targeting resources on poor kids rather than spreading them around.
Testifying before Congress, Secretary Duncan came under fire from a few Dems for upping the Teacher Incentive Fund and slightly reducing Title I in the 2010 budget.
Potentially interesting charter school hearing on the Hill today. Mayoral control of schools coming to Detroit?
Mad love for charteralliance and edreform for twittering during today's congressional hearing on chartering.