Thursday, October 29, 2009

Another 3 cheers for Duncan

by Andrew Gillen

I'd like to second Rich's three cheers for Duncan after stumbling accross this very encouraging anecdote about Secretary Duncan from Steven D. Levitt.
it strikes me just how differently he is reacting to a challenge than Arne Duncan (now the Secretary of Education) did when I first told him about my work on teacher cheating when Duncan was in charge of the Chicago Public Schools. I expected Duncan to do what LaHood did: dismiss the findings, circle the wagons, etc. But Duncan surprised me. He said that all he cared about was making sure the children were learning as much as possible, and teacher cheating was getting in the way of that. He invited me into a dialogue, and we ultimately made a difference.

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