tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post3777573947617337855..comments2024-03-24T11:39:28.574-04:00Comments on NYC Public School Parents: Advice for Duncan in the WaPost: parents need not applyPatrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10631038958645725010noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-71323698901947374902009-01-14T09:46:00.000-05:002009-01-14T09:46:00.000-05:00Ms. Halmson,No, neither of them mentioned class si...Ms. Halmson,<BR/><BR/>No, neither of them mentioned class size, but they didn't rule out that as an issue, either. <BR/><BR/>Ravitch pointed to one collection of issues (i.e. NCLB_, one that has impacted the entire field, and said that it needs to be scrapped in order to make progress elsewhere. <BR/><BR/>Spellings disagrees.<BR/><BR/>But neither of them slighted parents or class size and more than they slighted the arts, nutrition, homework, unions, professional development or leadership. They each put forth one succinct argument about one thing.<BR/><BR/>In fact, their is quite little that the Secretary of Education can do about parental involvement, especially little that might have a quick impact. Class size, even if does have the impact that you believe it has, is not a quick fix or something that Duncan could easily address in the early days of his tenure. <BR/><BR/>Most of the people included in this series in the Washington Post directed their advice towards things that actually fall within the purview of Secretary of Educations. Your two main concerns are not federal issues. There is no role of the federal government in parental involvement, and the role of federal government is school size reduction would be quite complicated -- to saying of the fact that it would consume virtually all of the federal budget for education!<BR/><BR/>For all that I disagree with some of the series of advice contains, your criticism is just not a valid one. Rather, it simply demonstrates your ignorance of how education works in this country (e.g. the roles of each level of government) and your obsession with just two issue amid the broad panoply of factors. <BR/><BR/>I agree with you that parental involvement in education is key, even if I might disagree with you as to what theirs roles should be. But this is a local issue, perhaps a state issue on rare occasion. But it is not a federal issue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-70832283922923304532009-01-13T15:58:00.000-05:002009-01-13T15:58:00.000-05:00I guess even Jay Matthews has good ideas from time...I guess even Jay Matthews has good ideas from time to time.NYC Educatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12188066345722781723noreply@blogger.com