Linda Darling Hammond, the head of Obama's education transition team, spoke to us "teacher candidates" about the Big O's plans.

The program director assigned seats, and I grimly wondered if my front and center table placement was a coincidence--maybe she wants me gone after all, and figured I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I kept my head down and wrote LDH's comments as close to verbatim as I could manage in a frantic effort to stop myself from asking a question or simply laughing out loud at the lunacy of her blithe assertions. I also kept a second pen, and when I needed to spout I just wrote my comments in a different color.

Direct quotes are exactly that. Anything not in quotes is a summary or restatement.

Question: Is NCLB on the table?

"Oh, you're looking for the real scoop, the stuff I didn't tell reporters, huh?" (Laughs.)

First, she summarizes, explaining to us that Obama really thinks education is important, and what his priorities are.

"Obama brought up education at every debate. In the third debate, he specifically brought it up as an area he wouldn't cut, no matter the financial pressure. He has several 'big pillars' [me: I wanted to mutter "Greek ones, no doubt" so badly that my tongue still hurts from the bite.] His initial proposal would double federal investment, currently $50 bill. He plans to put $10 billion into early education, redesign middle and high schools, and focus extensively on drop out prevention."

"He will give $4000 to every American in the form of a tuition tax credit, an amount that covers at least two-thirds of the cost of any public university in exchange for 100 hours of community service."

NCLB--goals are the right ones, law has a lot of problems. It “left the money behind”. But the assessments need to be changed; he will be investing in better assessments that aren’t just “bubble in the right answer”. Science will include labs, for example…lots of discovery based assessment, “real life” and “meaningful” assessments will be on the agenda.

There will be important changes in how the law operates.

Question: “We all remember that Obama took a lot of heat for the ‘spreading the wealth around’ comment. But will he be doing so, and what of that wealth will go into school funding?”

“School funding is a sword that politicians fall on. We fund schools inequitably and allow great levels of poverty [even though all the best countries give much more support to their poor students]…..Back in the early 90s, there was a move to push schools to have standard offerings (‘comparability’). It was looking good, until ‘someone’ realized that requiring comparability could lead to lawsuits, that students could sue schools that failed to offer ‘comparability’….and so it died.”

“One thing that can be done by the federal government is to address the comparability issue in NCLB (which will be renamed when it comes around again). How can we enforce the ‘comparability laws’ of NCLB so that it has a better chance of success? [that is, so that states will agree to provide comparability and, presumably, be more open to risking lawsuits?]

[Me: right. That's what will get everyone excited about Obama's education plan: more lawsuits.]

Question: What kinds of assessments are on the table?

"Other countries--what they do is invest a huge amount in their teaching force…they give them loans and stipends. One of the things that teachers do in these countries is develop assessments. Most assessments are open-ended. There aren’t very many centralized assessments, but they are often essays.”

Gives example of some biology test in Australia. Students are told of a virus, which is described in detail, and they have to design a way to kill the virus.

Compares the US to Finland, which has no national testing, only have local assessments. She implies that this is the direction we will be moving.

[Me: Naturally. Finland is the homogenized milk of countries--white and the same everywhere you look. So sure, it's a great model for the US to follow.]

So what’s likely to happen on assessments: the federal government will give money to develop assessment systems. Some states are already deeply involved in this process [gives list of states and if you think they are all heavily white states with barely a black or Hispanic in sight, you’re getting my drift. Wyoming, Vermont, and like an idiot I forgot to get the entire list.]

According to LDSH, Obama seems to care about education personally, as his own kids are involved in learning. [Everybody, all together now: IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS]

Question: How aligned are Obama’s and LDH’s philosophies?

[me: HE HAS NO POLICIES. HE JUST PARROTS.]

“I don’t think there are any huge gaps.”

Question: In the 2006 California budget, Arnold emphasized reducing class size, but class size keeps going up. (Implied: how can the federal government help?)

"Most funding for education is state and local, so state cuts will be substantial [because of the financial crisis]."

Obama is putting together a stimulus package--not the $600 check the Bush administration sent out, hoping people would spend money. The Obama administration is going to spend money in schools. The plan is to use the stimulus package to avoid teacher layoffs. "You do what you can."

"I have strong confidence that Obama understands it is an investment. Education is less than 10% of a weapons cost overrun. We lose $300 billion in lost wages due to dropouts. For every investment you reap dividends. For every dollar you invest, you get back $10."

Question: NCLB leads to scripted curriculum, right? (Implied: scripted curriculum BAD.)

"There have been many many good [non-scripted] curricula that have been developed. Why do we have scripted curriculum? Teachers and tests."

Make investments in high quality labor force of teachers. Many parts have not gone to the scripted curriculum the way that California has. The federal government can create the incentives for a curricular movement. It's the teacher leaders [code word for School that Must Not Be Named's students] that take the bull by the horns.

[me: I am always amused by the cognitive dissonance required for liberals pushing to get better, "high quality" teachers. Any push to improve teacher quality will necessarily reduce the number of minority teachers, so you know exactly what's coming next. Any qualitative improvements in teacher pay, coupled by higher standards, brings in more whites and Asians. African American teachers have been declining as a percentage of the population for decades, and one of the two most frequently mentioned culprits is the call for "higher standards" enforced through teacher testing (the other "culprit" is increased opportunities). I don't oppose higher teacher standards. But why isn't LDH required to explain her support for an approach that will certainly reduce African American and Hispanic teachers?]

Question: When will this start to take effect?

"I wish I had an easy answer. It does take time, up to two years....In places ready and eager to take advantage of curriculum development, you'll see a very rapid response."

Question: How did you feel about Obama's victory?

"I was personally loathe to believe that it would happen so easily. I was at two different election parties and at one I had to predict when and by how many electoral votes." She remembered all her excitement four years earlier with Kerry, and made "conservative" picks. Then, when the race was called...

"I started screaming hysterically when Ohio won....people all over the country were watching, I bet." They went home to be with their kids.

Question: Who did you call first?

Her son, who is working on the Kerry campaign.

Question: Could you give advice to teacher leaders?

"Great question. When you come into a school, a school has a culture of its own, and you're not going to change it overnight. You need to develop colleagues, and you need to think deliberately about things you want to change....How can you quietly bring people about to see things they might not otherwise see? Take it slow. See where your contribution should be. You have to be respectful. You want to be part of a collegial group or profession. It may be community based organizations, civil rights groups [me: notice how, er, educational, her examples are.] Take a long view. Don't burn yourself out. The road will rise up to you and you'll see your path."

Question: What are the most important key ideas we should try to affect our schools?

"Where is your passion? Each of you will find ideas that really resonate. Part of the key idea is to create schools that produce learners. All schools eventually make life difficult for some learners."

She encouraged people to look at the larger policy issues.

"Try to think about what you see. How do you change the organization?"

Question: In trying to achieve this ideal community of learners, what are the steps that need to be taken?

"Wow. That's a big question."

Question (same person): How do you translate goals from the state level to the federal level?

"Federal government has the bully pulpit. The federal government can try to change rules to embody the vision more productively. It can leverage states and then local education. It can transform college to funding levels that weren't [sic] available since the 70s. Put a billion [or six billion? My notes say both.] dollars into teacher training. The kind of work that really enables."

A big idea: Federal government can leverage, allow things to get planted. Work with professional organizations.

Question: Can the federal government really make changes?

"What we have now is very heavy handed accountability."

The Obama administration wants to change that. Put supports in place to give people the opportunities to improve. What do parents want schools to be accountable for? They want their kids to be treated well and fairly and taught well. [Me: And they want their kids to do well on tests.]

"It's actually a somewhat different vision of accountability."

Question: How much do other countries spend on education?

K-12 we're about 12th or 13th. We have a lot of poverty, so a big part of our education budget goes to poverty. How much would make a difference? We have not used our money strategically. First, you need pre-school education, then you have to invest in teachers. Teachers in Finland get three years of training and a stipend. Teachers in Singapore get four years and a stipend."

[Me: Three years? That's going to make teaching more attractive? Or is it going to pull in the yahoos who can't get work any other way? What sane person would think increased time in teacher training will attract more qualified candidates? She wants to have teachers spend the same time in training as lawyers--and for what, exactly? Madness.]

"We're still coming out of the factory era model: pay teachers very little, pay people more to watch teachers. We do manage to educate people, but it's a different age."

Question: What about Obama's support of merit pay?

"Ah, yes, the merit pay issue. The media "always reported that Obama supported merit pay", but they misunderstood. [[Oh, yes, they misunderstood. "If you excel at helping your students achieve success, your success will be valued and rewarded as well". How silly of them to think he was talking about merit pay.]

"What Obama has talked about is not merit pay, which is principals doling out money." [Oh, really? Sez who?]

Think of it as a career ladder approach. You support beginning teachers. Then you make a real decision at tenure [implied that many teachers won't make it past this mark.] Then you have a peer review. Then you collect evidence as to whether the teacher is achieving his goals: absenteeism, essays, whatever. There's an attempt to move them to Master Teacher. The Master Teacher gets paid more, yes, but gives back to the community of teaching by working with other teachers and helping them improve.

He wants to set up national leadership academies, to facility finding the best leaders and paying them to go into the neediest places.

[Me: First, this wasn't in any way what Obama was talking about. Second, though, this is not merit pay. This is, as she said, a career ladder. The only way LDH sees teachers getting paid more is by passing on their knowledge to other teachers, "giving back to the community", and so on. Of course, Obama's whole public mention of "merit pay" was a ploy, invented so that he had a couple fake events to shore up his claim that he was "even handed" and "open to all ideas". So it doesn't really matter that much except that Obama appears to want to turn the job of teacher into the only hammer he knows, a "community organizer".

"But he's elected now," I said, "so it didn't happen."]

Question: What is Obama looking for in Secretary of Education, and will it be you?

"I have seen many names and many lists. I think those who advise him are looking for someone who can build bridges."

Question: What is the role of charter schools?

There are some states that have regulated charter schools, like public schools. In those contexts, some charters have modelled how to do successful schooling. In other areas, all of the new schools that have success started as 'alternative schools', not charter schools. In California, all of the energy and innovation goes into charter schools. But studies show no difference in achievement.

Best case scenario, charters allow you to do things you can't do in public schools.

Question: What do you think is in TFA's future?

"TFA is a great recruitment organization that recruits well and vigorously. There are a lot of ideas about how you can get teachers to stay longer....My hope would be that the quality of support would rise throughout the country." [Me: yeah, this didn't make sense to me, either.]

Question: What can be done about the distribution of school funding?

"What are the feasible statistics? A lot happens in litigation. It's a slow process. I think we'll see the federal government will get serious on the issue of comparability." Says that they can use the comparability issue to force schools to equalize funding.

"A lot of people think that everyone gets an equal amount per student. They think that's fair. So the federal government can tell people to do what they really want to do anyway."

[I almost started laughing. Sure. That's why parents spend large chunks of money to buy houses in the best school districts and vote in parcel taxes for more local money. Because they think everyone is getting the same amount of money per student and golly, they're just fine with that. They'll certainly be copacetic with the Obama administration forcing everyone to move teachers around, taking the best teachers away from the best schools, and giving the lower paid teachers to Gunn or MA. Absolutely. I can see it now.

I thought originally that LDH couldn't be SecEd, as she has no executive experience at all. However, given her aptitude for banalities and platitudes when off the script, I'm starting to think Obama will recognize his own kind. She's probably a shoo-in.]

Then, finally, it ended. I was given many pats on the back from my fellow students, who know the effort it took for me to shut up.