What has No Child Left Behind done to public education?

On the next Your Call, we'll speak with Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Ravitch was a prominent advocate for charter schools and high-stakes testing under the first Bush administration, but she recently had what she calls a radical change of heart. How has No Child Left Behind affected the schools in your area? How can we create a quality public education school system? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Diane Ravitch--education professor at NYU and author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

Click to Listen: What has No Child Left Behind done to public education?

Your Call 031709 Who is Arne Duncan?

How will President Obama change American education policy? On the next Your Call we'll continue our series, the Transition in Realtime, and look at the state of the Department of Education as Margaret Spellings hands over the reins to incoming Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. For the last seven years, Duncan was the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools where he was known as a supporter of charter schools and higher pay for teachers who work in urban schools or who teach math and science. But Chicago schools have ranked very low among urban school districts and critics of No Child Left Behind have severe doubts about Duncan. Will Obama and Duncan give us the school reform we need? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Pauline Lipman in Chicago
Professor of policy studies at the College of Education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Her books include High Stakes Education: Inequality, Globalization, and Urban School Reform. She is the founder of Chicago's Teachers for Social Justice.

Andy Rotherham in Washington
Founder of Education Sector, a left-leaning but independent national education policy think tank. Rotherham served as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy (Education) during the Clinton administration, launched the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project and writes the widely read blog Eduwonk.com.

Alyson Klein in Maryland
Staff writer for Education Week, where she co-authors the Politics K-12 blog and covers Congress & the Dept. of Ed. She covered the presidential election for Ed Week and has interviewed new secretary Duncan.

Click to Listen: Who is Arne Duncan?

Your Call 121807 How are high school seniors preparing for college?

How are high school seniors preparing for college? On the next Your Call, we’ll have a conversation with high school students about the quality of their education and how it has or hasn’t prepared them for college. We’re constantly hearing about the poor state of California’s education system and low test scores. Rather than talk about reports and studies, we’re going straight to the students to find out what they think about policies like No Child Left Behind and exit exams. What are some of the other issues they’re facing and what can we do to support them? It’s Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guest:
Kamal Ghammache-Mansour, senior at Albany High School

Click to Listen: How are high school seniors preparing for college?