La prensa de los EE.UU. informa en estos días sobre la audiencia de confirmación del futuro Ministro de Educación nominado por el Presidente Obama en el Congreso, y sobre sus inciales tomas de posición frente a las políticas que el nuevo Ministro Arne Duncan espera impulsar desde esa cartera ministerial.
Bajar el testimonio del Ministro nominado ante el Congreso de los EE.UU. aquí
A continuación algunos de los principales reportajes de la prensa estadounidense.
Few Specifics From Education Pick
The New York Times, January 13, 2009
By SAM DILLON
WASHINGTON — Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools chief, told the Senate on Tuesday that he would work for “real and meaningful change” in the nation’s schools if confirmed as education secretary and said he hoped President-elect Barack Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American children.
“Never before has being smart been so cool,” Mr. Duncan said.
But in a confirmation hearing before the Senate education committee, Mr. Duncan did little to resolve the curiosities of educators and policymakers about how he and Mr. Obama intend to bring about change in American education, or about what kind of rewrite they will support for the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, the most important statement of federal policy on public schools.
“I have seen the law’s power and its limitations,” Mr. Duncan said. “I agree with the president-elect that we should neither bury N.C.L.B. nor praise it without reservation.”
He laid out a thoroughly pragmatic agenda, vowing “to scale up what works” to raise student achievement. He said the Obama administration intended to expand early childhood programs, encourage charter schools, improve teacher training and recruitment, reduce the high school dropout rate and increase college access. He called education a moral obligation, an economic imperative and “the civil rights issue of our generation.”
Mr. Duncan, 44, walked a careful line among factions of the nation’s educational reform movement, neither fully endorsing nor rejecting those who want to squeeze teachers harder to raise student achievement, nor a rival wing that contends schools alone cannot close achievement gaps between poor and affluent students without broader investments in school-based health clinics and other social programs.
Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, who was chairman of the hearing in place of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, predicted that Mr. Duncan would receive a unanimous vote of approval, and none of the dozen senators present disagreed.
“I think you’re the best,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, one of several Republican senators who praised Mr. Duncan’s record as chief executive of the nation’s third largest school district. “I hope I still think that a year from now.”
Mr. Duncan only rarely tilted his hand on changes he may seek in the No Child law. He praised provisions that require schools to break out test scores for all student groups, thus enabling educators to focus on achievement gaps between minority and white students. But he said the law should not sanction schools where only a few students are behind academically.
“To label a school a failure because of one child — there’s a lack of logic behind that,” Mr. Duncan said. “Let’s not take too blunt an instrument to an entire school.”
Mr. Duncan’s friendship with Mr. Obama began in pickup basketball games but blossomed seven years ago when he became Chicago’s top school official, and Mr. Obama began to use him as a sounding board for education reform ideas.
Mr. Duncan played basketball while attending Harvard University in the 1980’s, and for several years after college he played professionally in Australia, where he met his wife, Karen. She sat behind him at the hearing, between their 4-year-old son, Ryan, and 7-year-old daughter, Claire. Ryan read to himself quietly during much of the hearing, drawing the attention of Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska.
“My first impressions are very strong and very favorable,” Senator Murkowski told Mr. Duncan. “I’m glad to see that your boy is there reading books instead of playing with an electronic gadget.”
The hearing involved a string of similarly glowing endorsements from senators on both sides of the political aisle.
Last summer, rival groups of educators circulated competing educational manifestos. One, which included some former leaders of Teach for America, espoused a get-tough policy based partly on pressing teachers and administrators to dramatically improve student achievement. Another faction argued that schools alone could not close America’s racial acheivement gap and urged new investments in school-based social programs to help poor students learn. Mr. Duncan was the only big city superintendent to sign both manifestoes.
In the hearing, Mr. Duncan warmly endorsed Teach for America and its founder, Wendy Kopp, as well as the larger movement of social entrepreneurs seeking to improve public education through tactics like founding charter schools and seeking to end teacher tenure. He called himself a “big supporter” of charter schools. But he warned that only thoroughly qualified educators should be allowed to open charter schools, which receive public money but enjoy less governmental oversight than traditional public schools.
“This is not let a thousand flowers bloom,” Mr. Duncan said.
And he also endorsed turning public schools into community centers that provide social and health services to needy students.
“The more our schools can become community centers,” Mr. Duncan said, “the better we’ll do.” Public schools, he said, should be “open not 6 hours but 12 hours a day.”
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Senate hearing Tuesday spotlights school reform
By LIBBY QUAID – January 14, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama’s choice for education secretary, Arne Duncan, said Tuesday he wants to improve the No Child Left Behind law and lure more people into teaching.
And the nation’s school children should be on notice: Duncan would like longer school days, Saturday school and summer school.
Duncan, the Chicago schools chief, got a friendly reception from Republicans and Democrats alike at his Senate confirmation hearing, a sign that his nomination will be approved swiftly.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, who served as education secretary under President George H.W. Bush, declared Duncan to be “the best” of Obama’s nominees.
The education community is watching closely to see how Obama will proceed on President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, which passed with bipartisan support in 2001 but is deeply unpopular today. Obama has pledged to overhaul it but has been vague about how far he would go.
Duncan told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee the law should not punish schools where only a handful of kids are struggling.
He praised the law for shining a spotlight on children who need the most help. No Child Left Behind holds schools accountable for progress among each group of kids, including those who have disabilities or are learning English.
But right now, a school is labeled as failing if only one group of kids is struggling, even when the rest of the kids are making gains. Give individual kids more tutoring and other support, Duncan said.
“Let’s not take too blunt an instrument to an entire school,” Duncan said. “Those teachers are doing a Herculean job, and we need to recognize that. We need to reward that.”
Along the same lines, Duncan suggested he’s open to letting more special ed kids take a modified version of the annual tests required by No Child Left Behind. He was responding to Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson.
“You want to have assessments that actually assess a student’s ability,” Duncan said. “If you give any child an assessment they can’t read or pick up a pen, what benefit is that to the child? What are we as adults learning from that?”
No Child Left Behind prods schools to improve test scores each year, so that every student can read and do math on grade level by the year 2014. It was due for a rewrite in 2007, but the effort stalled. Lawmakers hope to try again within the next couple of years.
School reform advocates who want to keep the law have been heartened by the selection of Duncan, a big-city schools chief they view as a kindred spirit. Duncan has run Chicago public schools for the past seven years.
Yet it was hard to pin down exactly where Duncan stands on No Child Left Behind and other controversial issues.
“I have seen the law’s power and its limitations,” Duncan said in his testimony. “I agree with the president-elect that we should neither bury NCLB nor praise it without reservation.”
At the same time, Duncan praised an idea unions have resisted, the idea of teacher pay raises tied to student performance. Duncan started a performance-pay program in Chicago with federal dollars from the Education Department.
“That’s something that I want to look at, to not just support but also potentially increase,” Duncan said. “We can’t do enough to reward and recognize … excellence.”
Duncan said he intends to travel the country recruiting new teachers and to take steps to keep teachers on the job.
“Given the tough economic times, that actually helps our chances of recruiting great talent,” Duncan said.
Duncan also said kids should spend even more time in the classroom. Kids in 200 schools came to class on Saturdays last year, Duncan said, and he brought 15,000 freshmen back to school a month early on a voluntary basis.
“I think our school day is too short, our week is too short, our year is too short,” he said.
Duncan, 44, introduced his wife and children to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, saying his interest in schools is obviously more than professional.
Duncan worked in Chicago schools under former schools chief Paul Vallas after heading an education nonprofit. Before that, he played professional basketball in Australia, where he worked with underprivileged kids as a social worker. He grew up working in his mother’s tutoring program on Chicago’s South Side.
In Chicago, Duncan managed to raise test scores and graduation rates, and he improved the quality of teaching.
His critics, however, say he shouldn’t get credit for better test scores because they improved before he took over and state tests became easier during his tenure. Parents who opposed his aggressive school closings say they were disruptive to kids.
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Senators praise Education pick Duncan
Departing Chicago schools chief finds a warm welcome at confirmation hearing
By James Oliphant | Washington Bureau, Chicago Tribune, January 13, 2009
WASHINGTON— Arne Duncan’s Senate confirmation hearing to be education secretary was as much of a kumbaya moment as any appointee to Barack Obama’s Cabinet is likely to see.
Duncan, chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, was lavished with praise for his work in Chicago by both Democrats and Republicans at Tuesday’s brief hearing, which took place as a backdrop to the nearby, more high-profile hearing involving Hillary Clinton, the nominee for secretary of state.
“President-elect Obama has made several distinguished Cabinet appointments. I think you’re the best,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who served as education secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
With his confirmation virtually assured, the hearing held to review Duncan’s qualifications instead became a low-key exchange about how to improve America’s schools.
Duncan, 44, praised Obama and his wife, Michelle, for inspiring students across the country, calling this moment a compelling opportunity for education. He referred to it as the “Obama Effect.”
“What we have with the president-elect and his wife are two people who are living symbols, who embody the value of education. They were born from humble backgrounds, humble beginnings . . . what they did educationally was extraordinary,” Duncan said. “Never before has being smart been so cool and working hard been so cool.”
But Duncan offered few details as to how he would alter federal education policy, particularly the polarizing Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind law. The potential reauthorization of that law, which sets rigid performance benchmarks for students and schools based on standardized testing, may soon come before Congress.
“I have seen the law’s power and its limitations,” Duncan said. “I agree with the president-elect that we should neither bury NCLB nor praise it without reservation.”
In Chicago, Duncan developed a reputation as an innovator who carefully walked the line between holding teachers and schools accountable for their students’ performance and maintaining good relations with the powerful teachers union. He also closed underperforming schools and embraced charter and magnet schools.
Critics said he created a divided system in which more talented students were spirited out of the mainstream educational system.
Duncan walked that same line in his testimony before the Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “First, we must do dramatically better, we must continue to innovate,” he said. “Second, we must recognize and reward excellence.”
The committee was chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D- Iowa) in place of the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced Duncan to the panel, saying, “No other district in the country has been as aggressive about holding schools accountable for performance.”
Duncan told senators that “quality education is the civil rights issue of our generation” and that he has a “commitment to reform at every level.”
He said that both he and Obama hope to improve early-childhood education. “There’s nothing more important that we can do to get our children off to a great start in their life,” Duncan said. He also vowed to make higher education and job-skills programs available to more Americans.
Several senators expressed concern over special education and how it fits within the No Child Left Behind mandate, given that the test scores of special-ed students are typically lumped in with those of other students. “To have a one-size-fits-all mentality doesn’t fit in this category,” Duncan said.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) provided one light moment when comparing Duncan and his family to the Obamas, saying that Duncan, his wife, and their two children would also be relocating to Washington from Chicago’s South Side. “The Obamas are getting a dog, you get one too—.”
“We got a cat,” Duncan interjected.