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Trump Teases Education Reform Plan to Be Unveiled in ‘Coming Weeks’

Trump Teases Education Reform Plan to be Unveiled in ‘Coming Weeks’

Though presidential candidate Donald Trump has rarely discussed specifics when it comes to his plans for education should he be elected president, that could change very soon as he recently teased an education reform plan, crafted with daughter Ivanka Trump, which he said will be unveiled in coming weeks.

More recently, Trump revealed at least part of the plan might have a lot to do with school choice as he reiterated his support for it.

 “...our education reforms will help parents send their kids to a school of their choice," he said of his work with Ivanka. 

“On education, it is time to have school choice, merit pay for teachers, and to end the tenure policies that hurt good teachers and reward bad teachers. We are going to put students and parents first,” he said last week, according to The Washington Post.

The Post’s Valerie Strauss is skeptical, however, about how much Trump actually knows about school choice, merit pay and tenure policies. The tone of Strauss’ article suggests that, as many others suspect, Trump is using buzz words with no concise plan for improving education in the states.

Says Strauss on Trump’s recent comments:

"One set of comments left anyone who knows anything about the past few decades of public education reform wondering how much the Republican presidential nominee knows about it, while the other raised questions about where Trump is getting education policy from — besides his daughter, Ivanka.”

Strauss isn’t the first person to question Trump’s knowledge of education policy. In March, education policy expert Rick Hess called Trump a “wild card” when it comes to education.

"One reason that Trump makes political veterans observers so nervous is that he could very well be elected President of the United States, and yet no one has any idea of what he’d attempt to do in office. So, what would a President Trump mean for education? I have no idea. And neither does anyone else,” Hess said.

In the past, Trump has been adamant about banning the Common Core when in office, seemingly not realizing that the standards are a state choice. He’s said he supports dismantling the Department of Education, but hasn’t even attempted to answer the “then what” yet.

Certainly, there’s a reason why opponent Hillary Clinton is slightly more favored in education circles than is Trump. Clinton, who has been endorsed by both the National Education Association and the American Federation for Teachers, has frequently discussed her plans to support computer science, improve teacher working conditions, and fix the school-to-prison pipeline.

Only time will tell if Trump’s supposed education reform plans can compete.

 

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Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

8/22/2016

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