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Teacher Arlene Lebowitz assists a student in her third-grade class during summer school July 2, 2003 in Chicago, Illinois.

Education was the most-discussed State of the Union topic on Twitter following President Obama’s speech possibly because Americans were struggling to make sense of his statements and decipher whether he was being sincere or simply pandering for support from teachers’ unions. Regarding schools, Obama stated, “Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones.” That statement implies establishing some type of teacher evaluation system, which would contradict Obama’s subsequent condemnation of evaluative testing, “…stop teaching to the test.”

WEIGH IN

Was Obama offering heartfelt support for teachers or was he simply dispensing strategic rhetoric? How clear were the President’s assertions regarding education? How will schools follow his call to reward the best teachers and “replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn” without testing.

Guests:

Diane Ravitch, education policy analyst; research professor, New York University

Julie Slayton, Associate Professor of Clinical Education, USC