AFT-Speeches

In this speech before the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Education, Shanker praises the new presidential administration and seeks to improve the Chapter One program.

This forum discusses opportunity-to-learn (OTL) standards. Colorado Governor Roy Romer questions education experts on OTL standards in an effort to see if they might be useful to Colorado. In this excerpt where Al Shanker testifies and is questioned, both Shanker and Romer have a hard time arriving at an exact definition of OTL standards, though they agree that they treat, to some degree, the idea that all schools and all students should be given an equal opportunity to learn and that disparities that might have a negative effect on the opportunity to learn should be erased.  read more »

In this speech, Shanker is addressing the false view that the only cities that have education problems are those with poor minority populations. He quickly points out that there are failing school districts in every socio-economic environment. He then suggests ways to improve districts everywhere in America.