‘Quality Education is Our Moon Shot’: An Interview With Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
2009; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 91; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1177/003172170909100104
ISSN1940-6487
Autores Tópico(s)Educational Challenges and Innovations
ResumoKAPPAN: Whenever we embark on any project, we're always encouraged to begin with the end in mind, so that's where I want to start this interview. The last Administration will be forever tagged with No Child Left Behind as its legacy. When Arne Duncan and Barack Obama leave Washington in four years or eight years, what do you hope folks will be saying about what you contributed to education? DUNCAN: Well, the President has drawn a line in the sand. He has said that by 2020, we want to again have the largest percentage of college graduates in the world. We used to have that a couple of decades ago. We've lost our way. We've flat lined. Other countries have passed us by. That's our Moon shot. But we have to get dramatically better to get there. That's the goal. We're going to push as hard as we can to hit that goal. The President and I both believe that we have to educate our way to a better economy. It's the only way we're going to get there. Achieving a quality education for all children is the civil rights issue of our generation. We have to give children a chance to fulfill their potential and be successful. And the way to do that is by giving them quality educational opportunities. That means that we have to reduce the dropout rate significantly. We have to increase the graduation rate. We have to make sure that the students who graduate are prepared to go on to be successful in some form of higher education, whether it's a two-year college, a four-year university, vocational, or technical training. We want to get dramatically better in every piece of the education continuum: early childhood, K-12, higher ed as well. It's an ambitious agenda, but we think it's all critically important. KAPPAN: Is there one phrase that you could use to describe what you just said? DUNCAN: We want to become the most educated country in the world. That's the goal. THE FUTURE OF NCLB KAPPAN: I want to talk about the reauthorization of ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). As you make plans to move ahead with that, I want to know how you think you can change No Child Left Behind from what many perceive to be a test-and-punish law to a law that is really focused on improving student learning? DUNCAN: Let me start by telling you what I like about No Child Left Behind. I always try to give the previous Administration credit for its focus on the achievement gap and its use of disaggregating student data. As a country, we used to sweep that conversation under the rug and not talk about the tremendous disparities in outcomes between white children and African-American and Latino children. Forever-more, we will keep that front and center. I think that's an important conversation. It's sometimes uncomfortable. It's sometimes tough. But, as a country, we have a tremendous achievement gap that we have to continue to close. Having transparency around that and challenging ourselves to both raise the bar and close the gap is hugely important. Having said that, there are things that need to change pretty fundamentally. The opportunity that we have is to be very pragmatic. If it worked, then let's keep it. If it didn't work, then let's blue sky it and think in very different ways. First, as you know, No Child Left Behind was dramatically underfunded. We've put over $100 billion into education. While it's never enough, it's a huge investment. Second, from a management standpoint, you have to figure out what you manage loose and what you manage tight. I think they got this one fundamentally backwards. NCLB was very, very loose on the goals. So there are 50 different goal posts, 50 different measurements at the state level. And the vast majority of those got dummied down due to political pressure. In some states, including my state of Illinois, we're actually lying to children. When you tell the parent that their child is meeting the 'state standard,' the logical assumption is that they're on track to be successful. …
Referência(s)