Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education Speaks in Little Rock

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke in Arkansas at the invitation of the Clinton School of Public Service about changes to NCLB, or No Child Left Behind, the federal education law, which will be presented to Congress next year. The new education law is still "in the works"; Mr. Duncan is in Arkansas to determine better ways the federal government can help rural districts by touring Hampton School District's successful revitalization of its schools. Overall Mr. Duncan seems to be focusing education priorities on:

• increasing funding of preschool programs
• improving teacher quality
• building better, data-driven teacher evaluation systems
• increasing data transparency

For special education he will only be maintaining current levels of spending in NCLB. There is no plan to increase federal funds for special education.

Mr. Duncan does have a high priority on ensuring that all students, including those in special education, can enroll in charter schools. Charter schools in Arkansas and other states appear to have unusually low numbers of special education students. Special education students and other student groups who feel that they have been denied the opportunity to enroll in charters should contact Office of Civil Rights (OCR) immediately.

Update on Thursday, August 26, 2010 by Eye Contact Arkansas

I just found out that Arne Duncan has a strong emphasis on preventing school bullying through the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The OCR can investigate complaints from the last 180 days.  LINK HERE

“As educators, as state and local officials, and at the federal level, we simply have not taken the problem of bullying seriously enough,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “It is an absolute travesty of our educational system when students fear for their safety at school, worry about being bullied or suffer discrimination and taunts because of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or a host of other reasons. The fact is that no school can be a great school until it is a safe school first.”

Comments

[Elizabeth]

I'm so glad to see the emphasis on stopping bullying. Part of our responsibility as adults is to civilize children and teach them to deal with others in a kind and respectful way. To tolerate bullying because it's "natural" and teaches kids to be tough (it doesn't - it may teach them to be mean and certainly teaches them to be fearful) is the worst sort of irresponsibility.