Christie and National Expert Duel Over School Reform

One of the closing speakers at the Iowa Education Summit yesterday afternoon was far better known in New Jersey: education reform firebrand Gov. Chris Christie.

The other is arguably the best-known academic expert on teacher quality in the country: Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University.

Speaking to the same audience and on much the same topics, Christie and Darling-Hammond explored better teachers and public schools.

And they couldn’t have given more different speeches.

The Des Moines event was a well-timed conference on national education reform, hosted by Iowa’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad, at a time when the state is an obvious focal point of presidential ambitions in his party.

The two-day conference was more just speeches, with workshops and small-group discussions on every facet of how to improve teaching and learning. The keynote speaker was no lightweight, either: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

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