More Innovate Debate!

Per all this innovation debate, I think Mike Petrilli missed the point of my post entirely.   Despite Mike’s assertion, the point is not that an Obama team will be so much smarter than the Bush team,  you’ll search in vain for that point because I would not make it.  There are smart and well-intentioned people on all sides of these debates and there have been some very good people working on education in the current administration and they got plenty of things right. 

The point is that the policy history here is not always deterministic and we should not over-learn lessons.   A new team at the Department of Education will have the opportunity to learn from the past eight years and make their own new mistakes rather than repeating old ones.  When it goes right that’s how it generally works for most administrations and while it’s not always pretty, it is progress. 

3 Replies to “More Innovate Debate!”

  1. While you’re on the topic of what elections may mean for education policy, what about a third Bloomberg term? Eduwonk has been supportive of his “reforms” while those of us with kids in the NYC public school system take a different view.

  2. Hi Pat,

    Bloomberg has 69% approval rating/21% disapproval; poll done last week by NY1.

    So you’re saying those-of-you-with-kids-in-the-public-schools comprise the 21%?

  3. GGW,

    We’re talking schools so lets look at Quinnippiac poll results for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein:

    Approve 38%; Disapprove 41% and that disapprove rate climbs higher to 45% for black respondents, 43% Brooklyn and 43% women. And when they bothered to ask people who actually had kids in the system 52% disapproved of Klein’s performance.

    The same polls show parents want an end to mayoral control and prefer an elected board despite the mayor’s strong approval ratings you cite.

    Patrick

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