PROFILE
FROM Randi Weingarten
Are American Children Being Left Behind After All? The Bush Administration established No Child Left Behind — a federal law designed to raise student achievement in America's public schools. The Obama Administration followed up with the competitive program, Race to the Top . Have the resulting pressures on educators — and children — cost more than they're worth? In Atlanta, administrators and teachers have been sentenced to prison for falsifying the results of federal mandated standardized testing. In New York, thousands of public school parents are telling their kids to opt out of taking federally mandated tests. And, in Washington, there's a rare, bipartisan effort to re-write No Child Left Behind. We hear about a growing consensus that education reform needs reform.
Can Obama's Education Chief Save the Nation's Schools? Democrats are sharply divided between school "reformers" and so-called "traditionalists." They circulated competing manifestos during the presidential campaign: one side wants charter schools, merit pay and accountability for teachers; the other says don't blame teachers for failing schools, provide flexibility and better resources. Barack Obama has chosen an education secretary who has endorsed both sides. Will that mean gridlock or will Chicago's Arne Duncan finally overcome the "tired… debates" that have stalled real education reform? What about " No Child Left Behind ?"
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Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.