Newsday’s Opinion Staff writes:
Though public school systems are taking a hit as states confront fiscal crisis, education as a policy issue may well be pushed aside as the Obama administration prioritizes the ailing economy.
But teachers’ advocates may be pleased that Linda Darling-Hammond was just tapped for Obama’s education policy working group. (No word yet on Education Secretary.)
The Stanford professor and former public school teacher has been a sharp critic of No Child Left Behind, arguing that it “wastes scarce resources on a complicated test score game that appears to be narrowing the curriculum, uprooting successful programs and pushing low-achieving students out of many schools.”
Darling-Hammond has also aligned with the National Education Association in questioning the long-term benefits of Teach for America, a prestigious (some say overhyped) alternative teacher-certification program that fast-tracks young college grads into stints at struggling schools.
