According an excellent NRO article by Liam Julian,
…Joe Williams, the president of Democrats for Education Reform, wrote on the group?s blog that Obama wouldn?t ?play by the old rules? and wouldn?t be ?the kind of Democrat who blindly presides over massive systemic educational failure because it keeps the unions happy.?
Such hopes, while not dashed, certainly suffered a significant blow last week. The Wall Street Journal?s Washington Wire reported that Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor and one of Obama?s advisors, will head the Education Department transition team that is tasked with drafting policy for the incoming administration. …
Whitney Tilson ? a Harvard Business School graduate, mutual-fund manager, and Obama supporter who maintains a popular education-blog ? wrote last year, ?I think that Linda Darling-Hammond is little more than a thinly disguised shill for the teachers unions and that her ideas, if adopted, would likely result in much higher spending and little or no improvement in our schools. I can suggest 100 far better people for Obama to listen to if he?s really serious about education reform.? His view can claim adherents on both the left and the right. And so Darling-Hammond?s elevation is for all of them ? but especially for fellow Democrats concerned about education reform and school quality ? a major bummer.
I have read a few of Darling-Hammond’s books, so I find Julian’s characterization of her research to be pretty accurate. I also agree with Ms. Tilson’s assessment. Through Darling-Hammond, Obama is tinkering with an educational theory that cannot be successfully put into practice.
