Charter schools are proven to work, Ed Sec Duncan says on TV

To whet your appetite while I process some video and pictures from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s stimulus bill announcement this afternoon, here’s a link to the newest episode of “Education News Parents Can Use,” the U.S. Department of Education’s monthly television broadcast. Last night’s show was Duncan’s first, and the broadcast’s title, “Charter Schools: School Reform That Works,” offers a hint at his administration’s policy priorities.

Given Duncan’s obvious support for charter schools — as Elizabeth noted earlier, the first school Duncan visited as education secretary was a D.C. charter — I wasn’t suprised to learn that he was holding his first New York City event at one. But there was another, more obvious reason that Explore Charter School in Flatbush played host today, I was reminded when I asked a member of Duncan’s entourage about the choice of location: With its freedom to set its own schedule, Explore is one of the only schools in the city that’s actually in session this week.