Clinton Provides More Clarity on Public Education Thinking

Hillary Clinton seems to be ever-more nuancing her ideas about public education.  A couple of weeks ago she said this (from the Washington Post:)

Clinton also said that public charter schools “should be supplementary, not a substitute” for traditional public schools. 

Then, at a closed door meeting with teachers and paraprofessionals on Nov. 9th she said this:
Hillary Rodham Clinton said she is opposed to using student test scores as a way to judge a teacher’s performance, dismissing a key feature of education policies promoted by the Obama administration.

According to the transcript, Clinton responded, “I believe in diagnostic testing that teachers can use to try to figure out how to help individuals and classes deal with their learning challenges. I do believe that there can be and should be a set of tests that everybody agrees on.”

“And I have for a very long time also been against the idea that you tie teacher evaluation and even teacher pay to test outcomes,” she said. “There’s no evidence. There’s no evidence. Now, there is some evidence that it can help with school performance. If everybody is on the same team, and they’re all working together, that’s a different issue, but that’s not the way it’s been presented…”

On the way forward:

“I want us to do a deep dive into the collective experience of educators and the research so that instead of these back-and-forths that you see now, particularly from the other candidates on the Republican side, it’s not rooted in real-world experience,” Clinton told the AFT members last week. “It is not rooted in the advice from people who actually stand in front of a classroom and know the names of their students.

The problems in public education stem from underresourcing, Clinton said. “We have too many poor kids attending, too many poor kids without the resources they need, without the support they should get, and that’s the real tragedy in education, and it’s not test scores.
 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Anyone who is going to believe Hillary will be on the side of the little peeps should vote for her. I can't imagine a greater waste of time and waste of HOPE, but, hey, what do I know? I only got sould out in 1992 and 2008 for 2 different versions of "HOPE".

Listening to her is like listening to Trump or 1 of the republican candidates ... just how twisted will their version of the

TruthBe?
n said…
Ah, we are soulmates. I went green in 1996 and 2012. Glad to know you.
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Charlie Mas said…
I always wince when someone says something wrong, even if I think they don't believe it but are saying it to pander to either a populist sentiment or the powers that be. Likewise I always welcome it when someone says something right, whether or not I think they are sincere.

So I welcome these statements by Secretary Clinton. Do I think she's sincere about it? Doesn't matter.
Anonymous said…
HRC meets with AFT and says what teachers want to hear. The transcript of that meeting gets released by AFT.

HRC meets with hedge fund managers and corporate CEOs. Who knows what she said. That transcript will never be released.

--- aka
AKA, like that never happens with Republicans. Or, are you comparing her to one of them?

I'm not sure who I will support but it will not be one of the many clowns out the clown car that contains the Republican candidates. (Yes, I am calling them a name because their statements do not seem consistent with mature thought.)
Anonymous said…
I think you mistake me, Melissa. I'm voting for HRC. I'd give serious consideration to John Kasich if there any chance he'd be the R nominee.

My point was that we know what HRC said to labor but we don't know what she said to business. And we probably won't know. But I'll bet it was different.

--- aka

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