STOP THE PRESSES! Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the KIPP Annual Dinner

STOP THE PRESSES!  Arne Duncan gave an AMAZING speech at the KIPP Houston annual dinner last Friday – trust me, it's well worth reading in its entirety, as it's one of the best ed-related speeches I've ever read, not just about charter schools, but the argument for ed reform overall:

I have a confession to make tonight. I am getting impatient with talking about "islands" of educational excellence. If no man is an island, no school should be either.

In the world of education reform, success is all too often an orphan, while failure has many fathers. We don't talk about success nearly enough, celebrate it, and replicate it. I want to flip that presumption. I want to stop treating success as though it was a one-off, attributable just to heroic teachers or charismatic principals. I want to ask instead: Why can't success be the norm?

For all the educational challenges we face, I am actually extremely optimistic. We have many more examples of schools today that beat the odds than ever before. And no system of schools testifies to that fact more powerfully than KIPP's 82 schools and 21,000 students.

…What a difference a school makes: Top-notch teachers and outstanding school leaders literally alter the trajectory of students' lives.

Now, I am not going to kid you. For the most part, the education establishment has responded to the success of so-called no excuses schools by making excuses about why their record doesn't really count. The skeptics claim that the success of a KIPP school or YES Prep is due to the efforts of a remarkable teacher or principal and can't be copied. Or they say that gap-closing schools—even ones that admit students by random lottery—must be creaming the student population and only work for gifted students.

Thankfully, in the 15 years since Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin opened their first KIPP school in Houston, the KIPP network has debunked the myth that great schools are one-offs that cannot be replicated. And in recent years, rigorous studies of high-performing charter schools in Boston and New York show it is the school, not the characteristic of the students that explains the bulk of the difference in academic outcomes.

So I come back to the question with which I began: Why can't success be the norm?

I think two obstacles still stand in the way of taking success to the scale—though I'm glad to report that they are beginning to fade. The first obstacle is the belief that poverty is destiny….The second stumbling block is the trap of the blame game.

…Adults may care about whether a high-performing school is a charter school or a traditional neighborhood school. But children do not—and neither do I. I've said that I am not a fan of charter schools. But I am a big fan of good charter schools. By the same measure, charters that do not work need to be shut down much faster than they are today. As President Obama and I have said repeatedly, we care about what works to boost student learning—not about ideology, rhetorical purity, or political party.

In many respects, the Administration's agenda promotes a number of the reforms that have made KIPP schools a success. I have learned so much from you, and have so much admiration for your work, your courage, and your commitment. Look through the four assurances in the Recovery Act, in the Race to the Top and i3 programs, and our proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and you'll find a lot of common ground.

…Ever since Dave and Mike began KIPP, they have been told "it can't be done." When they pulled up to a sign that said "Do Not Cross", they went ahead anyway— if they thought it was in the best interests of children.

I cannot wait to see what the next 15 years of KIPP brings. And I cannot wait for the day when educational islands of excellence become districts and states of excellence. I want to thank all of you for your passionate support of Dave and Mike's vision, and for helping demonstrate to the country what is possible.

Many years ago, Martin Luther King wrote in his famous letter from the Birmingham jail that "human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through tireless effort and persistent work." Our children get only one chance at an education. Let us recommit to that tireless effort and that persistent work. Dr. King had it right: We cannot wait.

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Success as the Norm
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the KIPP Annual Dinner, April 30, 2010

FOR RELEASE: April 30, 2010

www2.ed.gov/news/speeches/2010/04/04302010.html