Education Week - September 23, 2015 - 14

In Wide-Ranging Discussion,
Duncan Mulls Issues, Agenda
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's
sixth annual back-to-school bus tour took him
through a swath of the nation's heartland-
Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and western
Pennsylvania-with stops that showcased the
education spectrum from preschool to college.
Education Week Assistant Editor Alyson
Klein sat down with Duncan on the bus
somewhere between Champaign, Ill., and
West Lafeyette, Ind., for a conversation that
touched on a range of issues, from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act renewal and low-performing schools to what
he sees as his biggest regrets. Here are some
excerpts, edited for clarity and brevity. A more
complete transcript is available on the Politics
K-12 blog.

On Accountability
Accountability means different things to
different folks. What we're asking for in the
[ESEA renewal] bill is not just data, which
some would say is accountability, and not
just transparency, which some would say is
accountability, but actual action. And I think
what we've been focused on the whole time
with [No Child Left Behind Act] waivers is
trying to transform low-performing schools.
... So what I'm interested in is ... taking action
when there are massive achievement gaps.

On School Improvement Grants
We put $5 billion into turning around lowperforming schools, and that's an impressive
investment. ... It hasn't all gone perfectly, but

BLOGS

we have high school [graduation] rates at alltime highs. ...
Everywhere I go I see firsthand the difference it's making. For decades, these schools
were just left to flounder and these children
to drown. The fact that folks are encouraged
to try and do this really important work, I
think that's a really huge deal that, frankly,
the media hasn't focused on.

Alyson Klein/Education Week

By Alyson Klein

On NCLB Waivers
One huge mistake was we spent a year and
a half, two years trying to finish No Child Left
Behind in 2009 and '10 and '11. We spent hundreds and hundreds of hours. And we knew the
law was hurting children and hurting teachers.
And we would have been crucified by Congress,
saying we bypassed them if we hadn't spent
that time, and so we thought we were doing the
right thing. So at the end of the day, that was a
big mistake. We failed. ... We let schools, we let
kids suffer for another year. So, in hindsight, we
should have done waivers earlier.

On the Common-Core Scores
What we're getting finally, for the first time
in decades, is the truth, and we're assessing
more critical-thinking skills . ...The fact that
the truth hasn't been told for so long, and the
fact that kids and parents have actually been
lied to is one of the most insidious things in
education. No one is that focused on [Common
Core State Standards] scores, and we know
this is going to be rocky or bumpy, but folks
are trying to do the right thing. Folks are doing
stuff that they've never done before, teaching
to higher standards and trying to assess in

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made stops in five states on his sixth annual
back-to-school bus tour, showcasing a variety of education issues.

different ways. ... If we can keep high school
graduation rates going in the right direction,
if we can keep reducing dropout rates, that's
a huge thing.

to talk to real teachers, real students. That's
why you have to travel and get outside of the
sound bites.

On His Regrets

On His Priorities and Wish List
I'd love to see Congress [invest more] in
early-childhood education, fix No Child Left
Behind. I would love to continue to see college
become more affordable and accessible.
I'd love to see high school graduation continue to rise. [Duncan noted that rates have
risen not just overall, but for every subgroup
of students over the past few years.] The challenge is how do we get better faster?

On Criticism of His Record
That's a Washington perspective. ... It's very
important to actually talk to real teachers,
that's why we do these bus tours to get out
and see the impact of this stuff. ... You have

I have not been able to get [a major investment in] early-childhood education [to gain
much traction] in Congress. There's still tremendous unmet need. ... Another regret is
the whole issue of gun violence which has
haunted me since I was a little boy. The fact
that we failed, that we utterly failed, to get
Congress to do anything ... Japan, Europe,
Australia-you just don't have the level of
devastation and trauma and destroyed families. ... Third is just to get financial aid to
undocumented students. That there are just
these kids who've worked so hard and played
by all the rules, and gotten good grades, and
been community leaders, and we can't offer
them federal financial aid. ... It's heartbreaking. ... I feel like I failed.

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Federal Judge Denies Injunction
In Jindal's Common-Core Lawsuit
| STATE EDWATCH | A federal judge has turned down
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's quest for a preliminary
injunction to get the Common Core State Standards
blocked on a national basis, stating that the standards
don't represent an improper intrusion into education by
Washington.
In a lawsuit filed last year, Jindal, a Republican,
claimed that the U.S. Department of Education illegally
used the Race to the Top grant program to coerce states
to adopt the standards. The governor also said in his suit
that the standards were part of an illegal attempt by the
federal government to intrude into classroom instruction,
and that states faced punishment under the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act if they tried to drop the
standards.
But in her 33-page ruling Sept. 16, Judge Shelly Dick of
the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
comprehensively rejected Jindal's arguments and denied
Jindal's quest for a preliminary injunction to block the
common core.
Jindal's attorney announced that he will appeal Dick's
ruling on his request for a preliminary injunction, the
Associated Press reported. The attorney, Jimmy Faircloth,
said, "the district court interprets the statutes to allow the
federal government to construct a scheme to avoid clear,
constitutionally based restrictions on federal authority over
state sovereignty."
On the subject of the Race to the Top grants, Dick wrote
that, "the evidence showed that Jindal knowingly and
enthusiastically committed the State to both the CCSS
and the PARCC [Partnership for Assessment of Readiness
for College and Careers] assessments, with full knowledge
of their purposes, in order to receive federal RTT dollars.
There is simply no evidence that the State of Louisiana

14 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 23, 2015 | www.edweek.org

was forced to apply for the RTT grant or forced to adopt a
particular set of standards."
Dick also wrote that states had received flexibility
from the No Child Left Behind Act, the current
incarnation of the ESEA, without adopting the common
core, and had not lost federal money unfairly after
deciding not to use the standards. (Oklahoma lost its
NCLB waiver last year after dropping the common
core, but regained it after the state's institutes of
higher education signed off on the state's replacement
standards, which happen to be the standards the state
used right before the common core.)
Jindal, a GOP presidential candidate, has led a multifront
opposition to the common core in Louisiana, but so far with
limited success.
-ANDREW UJIFUSA

Pre-K Inclusion Guidance Issued
On Children With Disabilities
| ON SPECIAL EDUCATION | All young children with
disabilities should have access to high-quality preschool
programs, and states and local programs both have a
significant role to play in making that happen, says new
guidance on creating inclusive preschool programs released
by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department
of Health of Health and Human Services.
In announcing earlier this year that they would
develop the guidance, the two departments said
that too often, young children with disabilities are
provided preschool options that separate them from
their typically developing peers, even though research
suggests that inclusive settings are particularly helpful
for such students.
The Sept. 14 guidance includes recommendations that
states plan for inclusion, ensure that quality-rating systems
for early-childhood programs support inclusive practices,
and make the inclusion of young children with disabilities

part of the professional development system. Earlychildhood providers were urged, among other things, to
partner with families on advocacy and policy development,
ensure access to specialized supports, and collaborate with
community partners.
-CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS

Ohio Charter-Management Firm
Prevails in Equipment Dispute
| THE SCHOOL LAW BLOG | Ohio's highest court has
ruled that 10 charter schools must reimburse the school
management company that formerly ran the schools for
computers and other equipment purchased at taxpayer
expense.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that contracts
between the governing authorities of the schools in
Cleveland and Akron and White Hat Management LLC,
a charter-management firm that operated the schools
beginning in 2005, require that the schools "buy back"
certain equipment and supplies.
The 10 schools are now closed, and their governing
authorities-essentially nonprofit boards that still have
control of the school buildings-sued White Hat and
various subsidiaries. The school authorities claimed
that the equipment belongs to them because it was
purchased with state funds, while White Hat contends
it retains the right to the property under the terms of
the contract.
In its Sept. 15 decision in Hope Academy Broadway
Campus v. White Hat Management LLC, the state high
court said that while it questioned the wisdom of the buyback contract terms, the contract was enforceable.
"The schools were represented by their own legal counsel,
and they agreed to the provisions in the contracts," the
court majority said.
The court said the trial court could consider the issue of
the "unconscionability" of the contract.
-MARK WALSH

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Education Week - September 23, 2015

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