DNC PUTS THE 'C' IN EDUCATION: That's a 'c' for campaigning in the DNC's official stance on education. Okay, we wrote the same thing last week when the Republicans shared their platform, which we critiqued as long on rhetoric and short on substantive change. We did neglect to share Condoleezza Rice's shout out for school choice, and former Florida governor, Jeb Bush's speech, in which he laid out the party's principles: "We need to set high standards for students and teachers and provide students and their parents the choices they deserve....We must stop pre-judging children based on their race, ethnicity or household income. We must stop excusing failure in our schools and start rewarding improvement and success. We must have high academic standards that are benchmarked to the best in the world."
This week our in-house Republican is ready to blast the Democrats for an equally milk-toast platform when it comes to education. Indeed, for all the wordsmithing that official position statements must endure, it's pretty darn hard to imagine anything imaginative sneaking into a speech. (Even so, here's EdWeek's report which notes the Administration praising teachers and taking credit for states' adoption the Common Core.)
What we do find interesting at the DNC, however, were sessions convened as part of the "Democrats For Reform" Town Hall event. One panel included the leaders of the major teacher unions--Randi Weingarten and Dennis Van Roekel--along with private sector leaders John Katzman (2tor and Noodle.org) and Joel Rose (New Classrooms Innovation Partners, formerly known as School of One) and Kansas City Mayor Joe Reardon and moderator, Jonathan Schorr (NewSchools Venture Fund). We appreciate all of those speakers coming together. We are a huge fan of honest dialogue and of bringing together people and trying to find areas of unity.
All that said, with the current divisive political climate, we keep our faith in the hard-working teachers, principals, administrators, and edupreneurs whether they're playing by the book, working around the rules, or radically disrupting the system.
