On his blog, Doug Harris takes a close look at the Democratic party’s education platform, reviewing what it says about testing, accountability, charters, and school choice.
Overall, he writes, the platform
doesn’t include any ideas that could reasonably replace the existing reform approach. The reform building is standing intact. All the signs here still point in one direction. The reform movement will slow down a little, but there are still no signs yet of a reversal.
He does note,
Several people I’ve consulted on this have pointed out that platforms aren’t that important and that the nominees ignore them. That’s true, but they are useful windows into the current status of political debates and harbingers of compromises to come.
Earlier, Chester E. Finn, Jr. wrote about changes that were made to the education parts of the Democratic party platform after July 1, which he called a step backward.
The actual debate over those changes to the platform was televised by C-SPAN.
– Education Next
