National Town Meeting with Teachers

I’ve spent considerable time in the last nine months trying to get a handle on Arne Duncan and I’m not quite  there yet. Today I listened to a webcast of a Town Hall Meeting with Teachers that took place on October 20, 2009 in Washington  with Secretary Duncan and a live audience of educators, as well as other teacher participants from around the country. I was left, as I have been on a number of occasions, with a positive impression of the Secretary.

It is hard not to like Secretary Duncan on a certain level. He often speaks to the real concerns of teachers. He sees that teaching is difficult work, that it is more art than science, that there are intractable equity issues in how we provide a level playing field to America’s public schools, and he empathizes with the frustrations that teachers experience on a daily basis. He leaves you with the feeling that we have important work to do together and I would like that feeling to remain through reauthorization. I know that it is difficult to carve out an hour to sit in front of a computer, but I think this was an hour well spent for me and it would be for you.

Teachers raise important issues in this dialogue. Issues ranging from working conditions and school environment to full time mentoring of new teachers. They talk about affordable professional development and improvement as well as merit pay and the demeaning effects of No Child Left Behind. What I found important is that Mr. Duncan informally laid out a set of commitments and principles that we can and should hold him to as we proceed toward reauthorization.

Elevating the Teaching Profession:
A National Town Hall Meeting with Arne Duncan
October 20, 2009