Obama’s Education Secretary Choice Average at Best

So here we go, why aspire to the best and brightest when you can accept average at best?  Arne Duncan is Barack Obama’schoice for Secretary of Education, yet why choose Mr. Duncan when the reports coming from Illinois are that the educational system is average at best and for those whom live there, they might even argue with you that it is actually quite below average. 

What are Arne Duncan’s qualifications?  Did Mr. Obama choose Arne Duncan because his jump shot is far superior to Mr. Obama’s?  Did he choose him because he is a fellow Harvard alumn?  Or was it because Arne Duncan and Mayor Daley are so tight?  Did Duncan actually call Daley his mentor in the news conference?  I’d have to go back and check the video.

With all that is going on with Blagojevich, it seems silly appointing another Chicago crony to the national political scene.  Is this just a Daley machine political appointment?  Or was it a payoff to the Unions to keep them happy since Chicago ranks 7th in teacher’s salaries and around the same ranking in student to teacher ratio.

I mean wasn’t there someone else in the nation, maybe from a State where statistics showed that the State was excelling in educational reform, for this appointment?  Wouldn’t that be the new fresh change Obama supporter were looking for?  Why just settle for average. 

The following is statistical information for Illinois’ average school system.

 

Illinois
	Contact Information Testing Director: Joyce Zurkowski NAEP Coordinator: Andy Metcalf IL State Dept. of Education

 

Student, School/District Characteristics for Public Schools
Student Characteristics Number enrolled: 2,111,706 Percent in Title I schools: 54.4% With Individualized Education Programs (IEP): 15.3% Percent in limited-English proficiency programs: — Percent eligible for free/reduced lunch: 37.2%   Racial/Ethnic Background White: 56.4% Black: 20.6% Hispanic: 19.0% Asian/Pacific Islander: 3.8% American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0.2%	School/District Characteristics Number of school districts: 875* Number of schools: 4,434 Number of charter schools: 29 Per-pupil expenditures: $9,175 Pupil/teacher ratio: 15.8 Number of FTE teachers: 133,857
‘–‘ : data unavailable
* Local school districts only (type 1, 2)
Source: Common Core of Data, 2005-2006 school year (non-adjudicated) <!– (except per-pupil expenditures, 1998-99) –>

History of NAEP Participation and Performance
			Scale Score			Achievement Level
			State	[Nat.		Percent at or Above
Subject	Grade	Year	Avg.	Avg.]*		Basic	Proficient	Advanced	Graphics
Mathematics (scale: 0-500)	4	2000	223	[224]	63	20	2	Scale Scores Achievement Levels Cross-State Comparison Maps: Scale Scores Percent at or Above Proficient
		2003	233	[234]	73	32	5
		2005	233	[237]	74	32	5
		2007	237	[239]	79	36	6
	8	1990n	261	[262]	50	15	2
		2000	275	[272]	67	26	4
		2003	277	[276]	66	29	6
		2005	278	[278]	68	29	5
		2007	280	[280]	70	31	7
Reading (scale: 0-500)	4	2003	216	[216]	61	31	8	Scale Scores Achievement Levels Cross-State Comparison Maps: Scale Scores Percent at or Above Proficient
		2005	216	[217]	62	29	7
		2007	219	[220]	65	32	8
	8	2003	266	[261]	77	35	3
		2005	264	[260]	75	31	3
		2007	263	[261]	75	30	2
Science (scale: 0-300)	4	2000	150	[145]	68	31	3	Scale Scores Achievement Levels Cross-State Comparison Maps: Scale Scores Percent at or Above Proficient
		2005	148	[149]	64	27	2
	8	2000	148	[148]	59	29	3
		2005	148	[147]	58	27	3
Writing (scale: 0-300)	8	2007	160	[154]	90	37	2	Scale Scores Achievement Levels Cross-State Comparison Maps: Scale Scores Percent at or Above Proficient

* Includes public schools only

n Accommodations were not permitted for this assessment

Source

For more information Arne Duncan’s record you can find it here.