Via Michelle Malkin (who’s also pretty pissed), E.M. Zanotti connects Arne Duncan to the infamous Annenberg Challenge. You know, the same challenge that both Barack Obama and some guy named William Ayers worked on together.

Anywho, Arne Duncan is Bestest Buddies with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. In fact, he worked with the Annenberg Challenge to program curriculum in Chicago Public Schools. From an official statement by the Annenberg Challenge:

The Challenge’s work is still carried on today through to the bipartisan Chicago Public Education Fund, which coordinates closely Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan and Mayor Daley…

In that piece, Stanley Kurtz carefully outlines how Ayers served on the board of and influences the activities of the Annenberg Challenge. According to Kurtz, Ayers had much more control over the direction of the project than either then Annenberg Challenge or Duncan will ever be willing to admit. And the Annenberg Project, according to Education Week, which is a go-to resource on all things curriculum related in public schools, had a heavy influence on Duncan’s curriculum agenda.

If we were to assume Kurtz did due diligence, which I think we can, and then look at Kurtz’s investigative reporting together with the spotlight article for Education Week, we could logically conclude that some, if not much, of what Bill Ayers placed into the stream of action at the Annenberg Challenge was implemented, even officially, in the Chicago Public Schools. CAC and Duncan worked hand-in-hand to the point where they and the greater educational community viewed the partnership and its resulting curriculum modification in Chicago’s schools as a success. And to add insult to injury, his greatest cheerleader? The NEA.

For a bit more entertainment, check out Zanotti’s description of the local Annenberg Challenge school by her. Sounds like a riot.

More: Duncan supported the creation an all-gay public school in Chicago.

So, how often do you think that the Old Media will mention that Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, supported to be opened in Chicago a gay, lesbian and transgender high school? Any takers?

I have looked over many of the stories on Obama’s pick for Sec of Ed, but seen mention of his support of the gay high school only a few times. Only three stories mentioned it out of the first 20 I checked. Even the Wall Street Journal didn’t mention it in their announcement of the Obama pick.

I concentrated more on the success (or rather failure) of the CPS in my post on the pick. 6 out of every 100 CPS freshmen would earn a bachelor’s degree by age 25. Only 35% of CPS students who went to college would earn a bachelor’s degree in six years — significantly lower than the national average of 64%. Half of CPS’ students have apparently failed to graduate in the last 30 years.

And President-elect Obama apparently saw this guy fit to oversee all of the education in the United States. We’re in for a bumpy ride.