shadow

By Anthony Cody.

The candidates for the Democratic nomination for president have not been as specific about their education policies as some of us would like. But we can look back at past statements to get a picture of the shape those policies may take. Last year Hillary Clinton spoke of the Common Core tests as something that “helps you organize your whole education system.” More recently Clinton has spoken of the need to “eliminate the criticism” that unions make it hard to fire bad teachers, though she has yet to explain how this might be done.

Bernie Sanders has not said anything quite so alarming, but nonetheless could be far clearer about where he would take K12 education policy. A 2011 video has surfaced, however, that shows he had some good insights into the way No Child Left Behind was impacting schools, and was not shy about confronting Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Here is the video, followed by a partial transcript.

The first part focuses on collective bargaining for teachers, and layoffs. He works to get Duncan clearly on the record opposing Scott Walker’s effort to crush collective bargaining for teachers in Wisconsin, and to oppose teacher layoffs, very much in line with his current campaign focus. At around minute seven, he gets to NCLB, and this is the exchange:

Sanders: In Burlington, Vermont, where I live, we have a school which has a lot of immigrant kids, its in the lowest income neighborhood in the city. The teacher, because of rules as you well know because of No Child Left Behind, was fired because the kids did not perform particularly well on the tests. And yet most of the people in the community see that as an outstanding school where the teachers and principal did an extraordinary job. Do you think it makes sense to judge kids who are from immigrant families, some of the families don’t even speak English, in the same way as you would judge an upper middle class family who are obviously fluent in English? Does that make sense to you?

Duncan: No. And whether it’s a child who doesn’t speak English, or a child with severe special needs who can’t comprehend the test, to have them take the same evaluation, the same rules as the child who has been in the country all their lives – no it doesn’t make sense.

Sanders: Why do we do it?

Duncan: Well, we want to fix the No Child Left Behind law and do it together this year.

Sanders: I just want you to know, in a school in Burlington, Vermont, which many people see as an outstanding success because of the work of the principal, that principal was fired. Thank you.

I am not sure Secretary Duncan ever did get the central point that Sanders was making. The Department of Education continued to use NCLB and its standardized system of judging students and schools as a vehicle to promote school “turnarounds” of the sort that resulted in the firing of that principal in Burlington. But at least Sanders went on record with this issue at the time.

What do you think this tells us about Senator Sanders’ understanding of education policy?

Author

Anthony Cody

Anthony Cody worked in the high poverty schools of Oakland, California, for 24 years, 18 of them as a middle school science teacher. He was one of the organizers of the Save Our Schools March in Washington, DC in 2011 and he is a founding member of The Network for Public Education. A graduate of UC Berkeley and San Jose State University, he now lives in Mendocino County, California.

Comments

  1. Jack Frymire    

    Ironically, the American Federation of Teachers just endorsed Hillary Clinton for President, without polling the membership, and included a slick brochure with the announcement to members that included opportunities to volunteer in her campaign. What chutzpah.

Leave a Reply