We all have to have more rigorous expectations of our kids in America.

I'd rather deal with anger than apathy.

Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job.

Poverty is so significant that we can't expect to overcome the impacts of poverty in schools.

We all have to have more rigorous expectations of our kids in America.

There’s a belief now that the problem with our schools is parents, that if we just had better parents we would have better performing kids and, therefore, we wouldn’t have a problem at all. But what’s missing in that equation is that you do have a lot of parents in this country who are very involved in their children’s education and who do want something better. They want to see better for their kids. They know that they’re in schools that aren’t performing particularly well and if you look at how we treat those parents, it is quite poorly.

I believe that the teachers unions are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. They were designed to be professional organizations that protect the rights and privileges and pay of their members. The problem is that we don't have an organized national interest group with the same heft as the teachers union that's advocating on behalf of children.