B2E News Alert – Education Business Intelligence

News Alert Homepage › Editor's Note

A Political Week

Anne Wujcik —Friday, August 29, 2008

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Democrats put on quite a show this week. Children were certainly part of the discussion, sometimes in the context of the nation’s future and sometimes more in the context of the education system. Speakers like former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner made clear connections between an education that prepares every student for the 21^st Century and the nation’s future economic health and ability to compete.

There was also a lot of less-than-prime-time discussion about education that most people never got to know about. NEA President Reg Weaver and AFT President Randi Weingarten addressed the convention and spoke at policy seminars and Ed in 08’s Roy Romer devoted a lot of energy to trying to raise the level of debate on education issues, as did many other groups and individuals.

Our friends Rita Ferrandino and Kevin Custer from Arc Capital have been working hard in Denver, capturing key elements of the Democratic Education Platform and responses/reactions from delegates, elected officials, education industry leaders and local voters. Rita is Sarasota (FL) Democratic Party Chair and a delegate to the Convention. She was one of three delegates profiled by Video Journalist, Michele Monteleone. The video feature on Rita appeared on the front page of The New York Times on Tuesday, August 26th. (http://video.on.nytimes.com/redirect.jsp?r=1&url=http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=8b0858ff3ad0a016d3f3321dd6a5b9c554591c20)  You might also want to check out Rita’s blog at http://dnceducation.wordpress.com/. You'll find some fun insider notes as well as a number of interesting interviews which will be incorporated into an online course developed by Metro State College of Denver.

Arc Capital is partnering with Metro State College of Denver to provide a free online course designed to help participants not only learn about the selection of the Democratic party’s candidate for president, but also to participate in the event through a series of discussions, readings and video interviews, articles and documents regarding key issues.

You can find another education-focused Convention blog at Education Week, where editors Michele McNeil and Alyson Klein are hosting Campaign K-12. (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/) .

I’m writing this before Sen. Obama delivers his acceptance speech, so I don’t know how much attention he’ll devote to education. Whatever is said, the challenge for all of us going forward is to keep the conversation going and to intensify the focus. America can only benefit from a sustained dialog about what it is we need our schools to be if we are to realize our hopes for our children and their futures.