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Education Policy Experts Murnane and Duncan Talk About Common Core and Fighting Inequality

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Two top experts on education policy talk about Common Core, and how inequality impacts educational outcomes: Prof. Richard Murnane of Harvard, and Prof. Greg Duncan of UC Irvine.Click here for free audiobook download from Audible, and generate a $15 payment to the PBC Podcast!

Greg J. Duncan is a distinguished professor in the School of Education at University of California, Irvine.  Richard J. Munane is the Thompson Professor of Education and Society at Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Their new book is Restoring Opportunity: The Crisis of Inequality and the Challenge for American Education. Their website with the videos that are mentioned is here.

We open with a recap of the pros and cons of recent education reform efforts, including No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and the new emphasis on Common Core.  Duncan and Murnane are candid about the benefits and drawbacks of various initiatives, and are hopeful that Common Core will help teachers and students evaluate the outcomes and adjust to the changes in the worlds of academics and employment.

We discuss the important of pre-Kindergarten education, how poverty impacts an array of factors that affect student performance, and some of the new ideas that have recently been implemented.