On Oct. 21, edweek.org provided a live Webcast of a debate at Teachers College in New York between the top education advisers to the presidential candidates—Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond for Sen. Barack Obama and former Arizona schools superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan for Sen. John McCain. The event provided one of the most detailed examinations to date of the candidates’ education initiatives and philosophies. Perhaps not surpisingly, some of sharpest exchanges centered on issues related to teachers and, more specifically, boosting teacher quality. (Indeed, “teachers” and “teaching,” along with “kids,” were the most oft-uttered words in the discussion.) Here are the pertinent clips:
On teacher preparation and bringing the best and brightest into teaching:
On performance pay and career development:
On the role of Teach For America:
Edweek’s Teacher Beat blog has some good additional analysis.
Watch the full archived Webcast of the debate here. Read the transcript here.
Bonus feature: How well do you think you know the candidates’ positions on education? Try this nifty online game.