WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Daley's cheerleaders

I tried to get a word in edgewise: "But Dr. Finney, what about Mayor Daley? Have you ever criticized him?" He didn't answer—he just kept up his filibuster. Finally, when he stopped to take a breath, I asked why he'd participated in the June 28 press conference with Huberman if he loved the union so much.

"Before you play Captain Kidd and make me walk the plank, let me tell you this," he said. "I'm a free spirit. You can characterize me as a puppet, but I deny it." (Ben Joravsky in The Reader)

The "Blueprint"

Duncan's scheme for turnarounds (4 models in the 'blueprint') is pretty much dead. What results will be more controlled, provided schools focus on a set of items for improvement (curriculum, prof dev, school climate, parent involvement and such). No doubt charters will continue to be funded and remain, and nothing will stop state/district from closing schools (so we in MA will remain stuck with the 'teachers reapply for jobs' model being imposed in Boston). Test scores likely to remain the major criterion for identifying schools. (FairTest's Monty Neill)

Super-profits but no jobs

”That kind of disconnect, said Mr. Sum, had never been seen before in all the decades since World War II. In short, the corporations are making out like bandits. Now they’re sitting on mountains of cash and they still are not interested in hiring to any significant degree, or strengthening workers’ paychecks. (Bob Herbert, NYT)

The promise and peril of Race To Top

The worrisome part of the Race to the Top program is reflected in its very name — it is indeed a race to reform, quickly and dramatically, with inadequate attention to conducting pilot studies or discerning what research shows to work or not work in schools. (L.A. Times editorial)