Learning is More Than A Test Score

Excitement is in the air in Denver for Democrats. When Hillary Clinton graciously moved that Barack Obama’s nomination be affirmed by acclamation, she set the stage for a unified party. The major tensions driving the first three days were more internal Democratic politics than policy, and education remains below the radar. We do, however, have the Democratic Platform document to look for more detail since it was adopted and is now available for download. It is worth looking at.

The K-12 and Early Childhood section can be found beginning on page 18 and is less than two pages in length.  Many will correctly say that it is short on detail. For me, however, this is the heart of it:

The Democratic Party firmly believes that graduation from a quality public school and the opportunity to succeed in college must be the birthright of every child – not the privilege of the few. we must prepare all our students with the 21st century skills they need by progressing to a new era of mutual responsibility in education. We must set high standards for our children, but we must also hold ourselves accountable-our schools, our teachers, our parents, business leaders, our community and our elected leaders. and we must come together, form partnerships, and commit to providing the resources and reforms necessary to help every child reach their full potential.

This is the kind of commitment and tone that as an educator, parent, and citizen I will look for in the next administration- a recommitment to the old American notion of “e pluribus unum” – out of many one. For the last eight years we have had far too much focus on “unum” and very little on “pluribus” … a philosophy that is manifest in the No Child Left Behind Act which has held the schoolhouse disproportionately accountable for the future success of America’s children.