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Hi. I’m Arne Duncan, and we are answering questions from our Facebook viewers. And Patty
had a great question about what we’re going to do to fix the NCLB law--and begging us
to fix it--and obviously we’re absolutely committed to doing that and doing it in a
bipartisan way as we move forward this year. I lived on the other side of the law for 7&1/2
years when I ran the Chicago Public Schools and know how much it needs to be fixed. The
current law is too punitive, it’s too prescriptive, it’s led to a dummying down of standards
and has led to a narrowing of the curriculum, and we have to fix all of those things. We
have to reward success, we have to reward excellence, great teachers, great principals,
great districts, even great states. We have to celebrate and learn from those places that
are doing a great job of increasing standard achievement. We have to provide much more
flexibility--get Washington off the backs of local educators who are doing a great job.
When I ran the Chicago Public Schools, I almost had to sue our Department of Education here
for the right to tutor my children after school. It made no sense whatsoever. We want to focus
much more on growth and gain rather than absolute test scores--how much are students improving
every single year. In terms of raising standards, states, state school officers, governors have
provided great leadership over the past two years – 40 states have raised standards.
College and career-ready standards for every single child and that is an absolute game
changer. For the first time in our country, children in Massachusetts and children in
Mississippi are going to be measured by the same yard stick. And probably the biggest
complaint as I have traveled the country is that No Child Left Behind led to a narrowing
of the curriculum. So, yes, reading and math are important, they’re fundamental, they’re
foundational, but science, social studies, PE, dance, drama, art, music, foreign languages,
environmental literacy, financial literacy, all those things are important and what we
want to support both the reauthorization and through our budget request is a billion dollars
to put behind those places that are willing to invest in a broad range of subjects. The
final point I’ll make on that one is that this has to happen not just at the high school
level but the elementary level. Our first, our second, our third graders have to have
a chance to develop their unique skills, their sense of self-esteem and all of our children
deserve a world class, well-rounded education.
Nome had a question both about our current policies but liked what the President talked
about in the State of the Union in terms of elevating the teacher profession. What we
are trying to do in everything we can is to reward excellence and great work at the local
level. We are putting unprecedented resources behind those places that have the courage--first
and foremost--the capacity and the commitment to push for dramatically better results for
children. And, currently, with the country having an average dropout rate of 25%, where
we are losing more than a million children from our schools to the streets each year.
We have to be willing to challenge the status quo and get much better. For all those challenges,
I’m actually very optimistic because all the great answers are out there across the
country and we’re going to continue to shine a spotlight and invest in those places that
are making a difference. We’re also going to do everything we can to elevate the teaching
profession. The President talked about in other countries like South Korea, teachers
are seen as nation builders. That’s exactly what they are here. We need to recognize them
as such. We need to bring in the next generation of great talent, we’re going to have about
a million baby boomers retire from the teaching profession over the next few years and our
ability to attract and retain great, great talent over the next four or five years will
shape public education in this country for the next 30. We’ve launched a new website;
we encourage you to look at TEACH.gov. This puts a spotlight on extraordinary teachers,
tries to give very specific information about how to become a teacher: traditional schools
of education, alternative certification routes. There is actually a job bank there and, as
we speak, there are several thousand unfilled jobs around the country that we’d love to
have people be aware of and potentially fill. As we move forward, we have to do everything
we can to support the great work that teachers do--often in very difficult communities, difficult
working conditions. They’re doing extraordinary work and we have to do everything we can to
shine a spotlight on that, to support it, and let the world know that our best teachers
are as good as those anywhere else in the world.