Slippery Slope or Steady Course for a Better Future?

President-elect Biden has kept his promise to hire an educator. He found a good one in Miguel Cordona. Cordona was Connecticut’s Principal of the Year in 2012. His career path has been meteoric. He went from being an assistant superintendent of a small school district to state superintendent within two years. Cordona has not entered the wars over the privatization of public schools. He is, however, a strong public school supporter. He has opposed tying teacher evaluations to test scores. He fits Biden’s image as one who governs from the middle. Where will this lead?

All we know now is that federal K12 education funding goes primarily to the Title I program to support underserved students. Biden has stated that this funding will increase substantially. How states must account for these funds has yet to be determined. This matters. Education policy has been driven by a focus on test scores. Turning children into numbers has not improved learning. It has prompted many educators to leave the classroom. It has also fueled ineffective charter and school voucher programs that divide people and resources.

Education has been asked to solve the problems of poverty and inequity. There are no easy answers, but how this issue is approached is the test for Biden’s administration. Will accountability for federal dollars prompt state leaders to think about where and how children learn best? Or, will it keep children glued to computer screens that the pandemic has shown to be problematic?

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