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Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog: HUNGER STRIKE, DAY 32 -- 70% Fail PARCC Exam. Duncan Calls It ‘Telling the Truth’

Test results for IL's 2,000,000 students have plummeted to their lowest point in a decade. They purport to show nearly 70% of them failing the PARCC. Pearson will deliver the rest of the test results on Monday and then it will take the state board two more weeks to check the data. But the results were a foregone conclusion long before the tests were given.

Rauner's schools chief Tony Smithwhistling past the graveyard.

"I think the promise of PARCC is greater than the promise of most of the other assessments we’ve ever had. Kids can test to the edge of their knowledge."

Arne Duncan agrees...

"It actually doesn't concern me at all. What Illinois and many other states are doing is finally telling the truth."(EdWeek)

Yes, the truth. Duncan doesn't even have to see the numbers to know that they tell the truth. In fact, numbers only confuse him.

DAY 32 of the Dyett hunger strike. Don't miss Carol Marin's excellent interview with hunger strikers Jitu Brown and Anna Jones.

Jitu on Facebook says that hunger strikers are meeting with CPS leadership over the next few days. He will keep us posted.

Here's an Open Letter to Alderman Will Burns on the Dyett Hunger Strike from Julie Woestehoff, former Executive Director of Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE)

KOCO’s decision to sponsor a hunger strike is a reflection of their extreme frustration with you and other education policy makers. The fact that several members of your community have been willing to put their lives on the line to join them, and that others are actively supporting them, suggests that many share this frustration.

You can join the hunger strikers & NBC National Nightly News on a peaceful vigil to Obama's home, beginning at Dyett 555 E 51st, at 6 P.M. ‪#‎FightForDyett

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Mike Klonsky

Mike Klonsky is an educator, writer, school reform activist, and director of the Small Schools Workshop (http://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024). ...