“My mother is a teacher. All of her friends are teachers. And they call me, at all hours of the day and night. And they have an issue, a little bit, with this Race to the Top issue that has been implemented that I guess was a fix to No Child Left Behind.” John Stewart, talking to Arne Duncan on 2/16/12
“We’re watching this very closely,” Rep. Kline said. “If we are, in fact, putting in a de facto national curriculum, my caucus will rebel. ~ Representative John Kilne, on the Common Core Standards in an interview with Education Week, 9/15/10 “You work in education? You aren’t one of those Race to the Top standardized test people, are you?” ~ paraphrased – basically everyone I meet at parties. * * * All politics is … sound bites. Sound bites are what politicians and the media thrive on, and on many issues, it is the only thing the public ever learns about an issue. I recently had the pleasure of meeting with a group of students from my undergraduate university as a part of a group of alumni offering career advice. After I had explained why all the adults in the room laughed at the lobbyist jokes, one young man raised his hand and asked: “So, when are they going to get rid of No Child Left Behind and all the standardized testing?” This was the final straw for me; I came home, and began drafting the following blog posts. No longer should Americans allow themselves to be educated by sound bites alone. Stay tuned for Kristin’s “Education Policy 101” blogs, which will run as a series on The Charter Blog this week.




