When Arne Duncan went to South Carolina, he probably expected to meet the usual compliant, uninformed business crowd. But Patrick Hayes of EdFirstSC was waiting to meet him, hear him, and ask questions. And Hayes is neither compliant nor uninformed.
Hayes writes:
Ever seen a weasel tap dance? Would you like to?
Well, here it is: me vs. Arne Duncan.
My first thought when I left was that I should’ve boxed him in more during the preamble. ( I was worried about losing the mic as it was).
Looking this over, I don’t think it would have done a bit of good.
The man is animatronic. Push the button and out come the talking points.
For context, here’s the setup (video cuts in midway):
“Your Dept found a 36% error rate for value-added.
Your Dept’s merit pay brief says:
TX, Nashville, and Chicago programs all showed no effect on student achievement.’
We can add NY, Denver and (more than likely) DC to that list.
Why are you spending our money on a policy that is unfair to teachers and has an extensive record of failure?”
Later in the session, Duncan’s talking points misfired. Asked about our move away from Common Core, he went on at length about how upsetting it was seeing SC go back to low standards and lying to parents.
Apparently, nobody told him that our standards were among the most rigorous in the nation, according to Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank that pushes rigor.
Like Duncan, they’re big believers in the fallacy that if we make school harder, we’ve made school better.
Patrick Hayes
Director
EdFirstSC
843-852-9094
