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Rahm provides Trump with script for DeVos to continue to push 'choice'... Rahm's Washington Post Op Ed makes it clear that many Democrats are still pushing the 'Waiting for Superman' version of reality that Rahm pushed at the White House and then in Chicago's City Hall...

George Schmidt - December 20, 2016

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued his career as one of the most reactionary leaders of the Democratic Party when he met in New York City with President-elect Donald Trump. While at Trump Tower in New York, Rahm was careful to avoid getting his photograph taken with Trump, or under the "Trump Tower" sign, but the message from Chicago's mayor was clear: "choice" attacks on public education and on public teachers unions were a continuation of the policies of the Obama admistration, where Rahm had once served as White House Chief of Staff. Betsy DeVos, Trump's choice to succeed Arne Duncan and John King as U.S. Secretary of Education, was almost all alright with Rahm. Photo from Fox News.Only one major Democratic Party figure -- mayor of a major city, former White House Chief of Staff -- pushed himself into the national media spotlight by going to Trump Tower in New York City during recent weeks. He was there to help Donald Trump work out how Trump's reactionary agenda was going to play after the January 2017 inauguration. That person was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Rahm's advice to Trump was to continue pushing the "education reform" agenda that Rahm and Barack Obama had been pushing since the supposedly progressive election of Obama in November 2008. While there was no record of what Rahm and Trump discussed, Rahm made his side clear a couple of days later, not in the Chicago media, but in the Washington Pose (see below).

After lying about his own activities as mayor of Chicago, Rahm praised a couple of the most corrupt charter schools in Chicago -- Noble and Urban Prep. Then he recommended what amounts to more "choice" in public schools. In other words, Rahm and Rahm's wing of the Democratic Party are pushing for a continuation of the agenda that Rahm (along with Barack Obama, Arne Duncan, and John King) had pushed since January 2009. It's almost as if Rahm wanted to give another free showing of the propaganda movie "Waiting for Superman", pushing charter schools with the best techniques Hollywood has to offer. But that may come as no surprise, since Rahm's Hollywood brother is also advising Trump.

Perhaps Substance readers can take apart the lies of Donald Trump at some point. But in the context of today's stories, the lies of Rahm Emanuel -- from his claim that Noble (which kicks out lost of kids) and Urban Prep (which kicks out even more kids) are "successful" to the outrageous claim that Rahm closed "failing schools" during his 2012 - 2013 attack on the city's real public schools. That attack resulted in the unprecedented closing of 50 of Chicago's real public schools -- and not because they were failing. The official reasons have shifted, just as any lie does as it morphs into history, but basically Rahm was attacking the city's public schools. His attack was facilitated by two African American leaders -- Frank Clark and Barbara Byrd Bennett. Both are corrupt, Clark as an unabashed charter school backer and corporate executive; Byrd Bennett as the CEO who is going (eventually?) to go to federal prison for taking promised kickbacks in the SUPES scandal.

Obviously, the Washington Post didn't do much fact checking before it ran Rahm's ramblings about "choice." Maybe that's one reason why Rahm's Op Ed was published in Washington, D.C. instead of in Chicago. Hopefully, some Chicago readers have read it (or will read it below) and will at least demand to know why the Post, which has been exposing some of Trump's lies, is ignoring Rahm's lies.

Trump had already signaled his approval of false "school reform" choice by selecting Becky DeVos to be the next U.S. Secretary of Education. But just in case anyone missed Rahm's point, Rahm got himself in the Washington Post a few days after his meeting with Trump:

It’s time to stop with the false choices on school choice, Washington Post Op Ed, By Rahm Emanuel December 16, 2016

Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, is mayor of Chicago. He served as White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010.

By nominating voucher and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to be his education secretary, President-elect Donald Trump has ignited another round of debate over school choice. Yet as cable-news talking heads argue about whether or what kind of school reform is needed in the United States, parents are having a different discussion at the kitchen table — one based on finding the best school, not whether it’s a “reform” school.

Promoting choice at the expense of quality isn’t an education strategy, it’s a political agenda. Rather, those of us creating education policy need to simply focus on providing the quality choices that students deserve.

We have seen successes when choice and quality have been pursued together. Some public charter schools, such as the Noble Network and Urban Prep in Chicago, have boosted graduation rates and increased college enrollment for low-income students of color. Noble’s graduation rate is above 80 percent, and 100 percent of Urban Prep’s 2016 graduates were college-bound.

Despite charter success stories such as these, however, most children will continue to enroll in their local neighborhood school. We need to ensure that those schools are providing a high-quality education, too.

In the Chicago Public Schools, we implemented the largest expansion in school time — lengthening the school day and expanding the school year by 10 days. We made full-day kindergarten universal and conducted an early-learning race-to-the-top competition to reward the best providers and removed those not meeting quality standards. We closed low-performing schools, turned around failing ones and dramatically expanded successful educational models such as International Baccalaureate (IB) and STEM.

Our graduation rate has grown by 16 points since 2011, more than three times faster than the growth in the national rate. Chicago’s eighth-graders led large urban districts in math growth, while our fourth-graders ranked third in reading gains. And with 42 percent of graduates enrolling in four-year colleges and an additional 20 percent enrolling in two-year colleges, CPS is on par with the national average for college enrollment despite a student body that is more than 80 percent low-income and minority.

But to continue this progress, those of us on the front lines need partners at the state and federal levels who are focused on quality. Previous Republican administrations sounded the alarm on educational quality, prompting renewed focus on stronger accountability. Democratic administrations pushed higher standards. The incoming Trump administration would be wise to focus on qualitative choices in four ways.

Put principals first: For too long the debate has been focused on teachers, but principals drive the standards and accountability in a school. The Trump administration should support efforts to increase principal quality, from creating training pipelines to rewarding strong performance. In Chicago, we partnered with 10 universities to train the next generation of principals and place them in year-long fellowships in our schools, and launched a program to provide our best principals more freedom to innovate.

Make the early years count: Children start dropping out of school in third grade, which is why the early years are the most important. We expanded full-day pre-K in Chicago by more than 60 percent. An analysis of CPS programs proved the value, finding that children who attend full-day preschool enter kindergarten twice as likely to read at grade level. The Trump administration should make universal full-day prekindergarten a priority and make quality a prerequisite for receiving funding.

Fight the toughest battle: The toughest nut for urban school districts to crack is high school, but again, investing in quality is the key. While we have backed quality charter options in Chicago, we have also invested in quality through magnet, military, IB and STEM schools to the point that 50 percent of our kids attend one of these models. IB and STEM programs in particular are proven to raise graduation and college enrollment rates for students of all racial and income backgrounds. In fact, our IB-enrolled students boast a nearly 100 percent graduation rate, and 81 percent enroll in college, a higher rate than their peers.

Failure is not an option: Children get only one chance at a good education. We closed failing charter and neighborhood schools and expanded those with higher quality. The incoming presidential administration should promote proven programs to turn around failing schools. In Chicago, in partnership with the Academy for Urban School Leadership, we worked to turn around 14 failing schools. Today, roughly 80 percent of these schools have attained high-performing quality ratings.

Instead of chasing another Washington debate about choice that goes nowhere, let’s work together to help Americans get ahead by investing in better schools regardless of who operates them.

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