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Dan Domenech

A Review of the Administrations Blueprint for Education with Secretary Duncan by Dan Domenech

President Obama has a laudable goal for our countrys education system to lead the world in the percentage of college graduates by 2020. I support the Presidents goal and believe it is attainable.  As the Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators I have worked alongside the Administration to improve our countrys education system, so that we give each of Americas children the best education possible. Recently I was privileged to meet with the Secretary of Education; Mr. Arnie Duncan, to discuss the Administrations Blueprint for Education and share my thoughts with him. Secretary Duncan recognizes that a new accountability system must be created that is more comprehensive and addresses the needs of the whole child. The current law places too much emphasis on testing and rote memorization and not enough on other skill development, such as creativity and in depth thinking. The proposal includes a crucial reward component instead of just a penalty component as in the current law. It also consolidates much of the funding into smaller categories so school districts have more flexibility with the federal funding they receive.  All of these aspects of the new Blueprint are strong advancements from the current law and I applaud them. But I also have several concerns which I shared with Secretary Duncan. First, the current formula is being flat-funded to allow the growth of competitive funds. These dollars will be won by states and districts through competitive grants. This means that there will be ‘winners and ‘losers. I am very concerned that districts that already have sufficient or plentiful resources will have an advantage as they will have more dollars to spend competing for these grants. Districts with more poverty will be at a huge disadvantage and this will lead to more inequity. The rich districts will get richer while the poor districts will get poorer. Education is a civil right, as Secretary Duncan has stated. However, a childs civil rights are not subject to competition. Rather than maintaining or cutting formula funding under ESEA, AASA urges the administration to grow formula grants to provide a more reliable stream of funding to local school districts. Lets get away from making states jump through hoops to receive funding and instead provide the support they need and let them focus on the important work of school improvement. My recommendation to Secretary Duncan was to put more money on the formula and put a smaller amount into the competitive grants. I also have grave concerns about the transformation model which calls for the firing of both the principal and half of the teachers in schools that are failing. First, I believe, and best practice tells us, that there are better ways to transform a school. Next this would not be an option in many districts for contractual and legal reasons, and in rural districts it is often difficult to find qualified teachers for open positions. I recommend that we work with our ‘failing schools to help transform them while still maintaining the majority of the staff. Most importantly, I emphasized to Secretary Duncan, we need to fix and reauthorize the ESEA education law as soon as possible. Both the President and the Secretary know the current law is not working and that schools have to teach to the test rather than educate the ‘whole child. Yet until ESEA is reauthorized we are continuing to use these standards to evaluate schools, teachers, and students. This must be stopped. The Administration must work on the changes needed so we can move forward on this most important job of transforming our schools. In the meantime, I recommend we put on hold some of the provisions of NCLB that are causing schools pain. The Administration is right in putting a primary focus on education. It is the most important work we can do for the future of our great country. We are moving in the right direction, but it wont be easy. Sometimes we need to go through difficult times to retool the whole system and get to the next level. I look forward to continued conversations with Secretary Duncan and believe that we will see the Presidents goal of leading the world in the percentage of college graduates become a reality.

 

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