Darell Hammond Quotes

I do think that a school day that matches the work day makes a lot of difference for working families, but the big driver of this effort is education. Period. We have a lot of students not gaining the skills they need, and it is pretty clear that school does not offer enough time to get that job done.

If I'm elected President, I will make sure that you won't have too much homework.

Our schools should be rewarding for all students.

No Child Left Behind's fourth-grade gains aren't learning gains, they're testing gains. That's why they don't last. The law is a distraction from things that really count.

I've got a very deep and abiding passion about education being far more than buildings and textbooks; it's what children bring into school with them.

Public education must be viewed from the lens of providing each child with the learning environment that best meets his or her needs. If we can send a low-income child to a parochial school, knowing that his odds of attending college will increase as a result, then that should be our mission.

When I was growing up, I was lucky to benefit from a first class education.

Keeping our kids engaged and in school must become a national priority.

You can force students to learn, to a certain extent, but students aren't happy and employers aren't happy.

Children themselves know they are being cheated. Ultimately we owe it to our children. They are in school for 190 days a year. Every moment they spend learning is precious. If a year goes by and they are not being stretched and excited, that blights their life.

As an educator myself, I understand the profound effect that good teachers and a quality education have on the lives of our young people.

The motives of these parents vary, many parents don't like the curriculum being taught to their kids, or are wary of the threat of peer pressure or the presence of drugs or violence lurking in too many of our schools today.

An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home.

By far the most important factor in the success or failure of any school, far more important than tests or standards or business-model methods of accountability, is simply attracting the best-educated, most exciting young people into urban schools and keeping them there.

If you improve education by teaching for competence, eliminating schooling, and connecting with students, the test scores will improve.

As a former high school teacher and a student in a class of 60 urchins at St. Brigid's grammar school, I know that education is all about discipline and motivation. Disadvantaged students need extra attention, a stable school environment, and enough teacher creativity to stimulate their imaginations. Those things are not expensive.

I want to make sure that all kids get a good education and enjoy what they learn.

Good teachers must inspire children to work hard - make projects and give them good marks even if genuine projects look crude and unprofessional.

One of the problems we have is children are not in school long enough in the day and during the year.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.

What passes for a curriculum in today's schools is little else than a strategy of distraction... It is largely defined to keep students from knowing themselves and their environment in any realistic sense; which is to say, it does not allow inquiry into most of the critical problems that comprise the content of the world outside the school.

If you want to reform schools, don't do it with testing. We used to say, "If you want elephants to grow, you don't weigh the elephants. You feed the elephants." Children will not grow unless they get quality instruction.

Students Are Not Widgets. Schools Are Not Factories.

Education in general, and higher education in particular, is on the brink of a huge disruption. Two big questions, which were once so well-settled that we ceased asking them, are now up for grabs. What should young people be learning? And what sorts of credentials indicate they're ready for the workforce?

There has been a great challenge in improving educational achievement. It's a long-term issue, not a short-term one. It includes everything from getting more parents involved to addressing issues of poverty and improving what happens in the classroom.