Last week, Indiana's Inspector General exonerated former state superintendent Tony Bennett of any wrongdoing for changing the grade of a high performing charter school. As Gadfly readers surely remember, Bennett sought the change when preliminary results from the state's new accountability system failed the “face validity” test (the school—well known for getting great outcomes for low-income children—inexplicably received a middling grade). His political opponents accused him of favoritism and forced him from his subsequent role running Florida's education system; now we know that he was simply doing his job (and doing it well). The decisions of public servants surely deserve our scrutiny, but if we wanted talented people to take these grueling positions, we need to stop with the baseless, personal attacks.
In the shadow of the NEA’s fascinating convention last week, the AFT held its own con-fab this weekend, breaking some news along the way. First, in light of the NEA’s demand that Education Secretary Arne Duncan resign, the AFT took a slightly more circumspect approach: they commanded President Obama to put Duncan on an “improvement plan” and decreed that Duncan should resign if he doesn’t switch to more union-friendly positions. Meanwhile, the AFT also passed a resolution calling for teachers to provide more input into Common Core implementation—a significantly watered-down version the resolution passed by the Chicago Teachers Union, which called for the national union to flat-out oppose the standards.
Course Access is relatively new state-level program that affords students the opportunity to supplement their education with course offerings in third-party providers in online, blended, and/or face-to-face formats. Today, the Foundation for Excellence in Education released a new white paper highlighting the opportunities that Course Access programs provide and lessons we can learn from early implementers. Good stuff!
