Speaking at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Va., this morning, President Obama emphasized his push for a third way in improving education.
Here’s a piece of his remarks:
“Now, for a long time we weren’t sure about how to give our kids that kind of (quality) education.  There were a lot of arguments for a lot of years.  Some people thought if you just put more money into education that would solve the problem.  And then the other side thought, money doesn’t matter; what we need is reform. 
“And … then something began to happen in states and local school districts.  Instead of getting caught up in these old, stale debates, people began to agree that, you know what, we need both more money and more reform.  We need more resources for the schools, but we’ve got to reorganize how our schools are doing business in order to assure success for our young people.   People began coming together -– parents, students, teachers, administrators, reformers, local officials -– and we started witnessing amazing success stories all across America.
“There’s a school in Denver, Bruce Randolph School, that went from being one of the worst schools in Colorado to graduating 97 percent of its seniors last May.  In Cincinnati, Taft High School went from handing out only one diploma for every five students to graduating 95 percent of its seniors, and preparing them for careers in technology.”