Backers Say Chicago Project Not "Radical:" '90s Annenberg Reform Push an Issue in Presidential Race

• Published in: Education Week Vol. 28; no. 8; p. 1
• Main Author: Aarons, Dakara I
• Format: Journal Article Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda Editorial Projects in Education 15.10.2008; Editorial Projects in Education, Inc
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Administrative Organization; Candidates; Community Relations; Education reform; Educational Change; Educational Cooperation; Educational Facilities Improvement; Educational Improvement; Educational planning; Educational reform; Elections; Evaluation; Faculty Development; Grants; Ideology; Illinois; Instructional Improvement; Low Achievement; McCain, John; Minority Group Children; Obama, Barack; Political activity; Political aspects; Political Attitudes; Political Campaigns; Presidential candidates; Presidential elections; Presidents; Public Schools; School Community Relationship; School Councils; School Restructuring; School Size; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher Strikes; Teaching (Occupation); Urban Education; Urban Schools; Illinois; United States; United States > US; Chicago Illinois
• ISSN: 0277-4232; 1944-8333

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge, chaired from 1995 to 1999 by Barack Obama, is being portrayed by John McCain's campaign as an attempt to push radicalism on schools. Founders of the project say it has been distorted in the presidential campaign. The project undertaken in Chicago as part of a high-profile national initiative reflected, however, mainstream thinking among education reformers. The Annenberg Foundation's $49.2 million grant in the city focused on three priorities: encouraging collaboration among teachers and better professional development; reducing the isolation between schools and between schools and their communities; and reducing school size to improve learning. The proposal that won Chicago the grant, which the Annenberg Foundation required be matched two-to-one by local donations, was written by William C. Ayers and Anne C. Hallett. Mr. Ayers, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has become a prime target for Sen. Obama's foes, who point to Mr. Ayers' membership in the radical Weather Underground in the 1960s and 1970s and assert that the Democratic presidential nominee has been keeping company with an unrepentant domestic terrorist.