Democracy Now - Lewis, Pallas and Noor

This just came in. For up to date coverage of Chicago hotbed ed news check in with George Schmidt and Substance - at the beach (eat your hearts out) and don't have link handy.
There should be some nyc action today. And check my tweets on outrageous action in San Fran where Teach for America newbies based on no teaching record will keep jobs over senior teachers.

Good afternoon,
I am writing to share an interview that we broadcast on the independent, daily news hour Democracy Now! today. As students across the country stage a national day of action to defend public education, we look at the nation's largest school systems — Chicago and New York City — and the push to preserve quality public education amidst new efforts to privatize schools and rate teachers based on test scores.
We host a discussion with Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union; Columbia University's Aaron Pallas; and Democracy Now! education correspondent Jaisal Noor.
"The danger is that if teachers and schools are held accountable just for relatively narrow measures of what it is students are doing in class, that will become what drives the education system," says Pallas, who studies the efficiency of teacher-evaluation systems.
"The effects of school closings in [New York City] is one of the great untold stories today," says Noor. "The bedrock of these communities [has been] neighborhood schools and now they're being destroyed."
Lewis says, "When you have a CEO in charge of a school system as opposed to a superintendent — a real educator — what ends up happening is that they literally have no clue how to run the schools." Lewis recounts a meeting where she says Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told her that, "25 percent of these kids are never going to amount to anything."
When you have a chance, please take a moment to watch the interview and read the complete transcript, which is available at the link below. I have also provided the video embed code if you would like to share the interview on your website and social media networks today.

You can find our past coverage of education-related topics at:
http://www.democracynow.org/topics/education
Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Please let me know if you have any questions.
My Best,
Megan Hafner
Social Media and Online Outreach Intern
Democracy Now!
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Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
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Grassroots Education Movement
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