Obama Appoints School Chief Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education
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Politics reports that President Barack Obama’s selection of Chicago public
schools chief Arne Duncan to be U.S. Secretary of Education is winning praise
from disparate segments of the education community, who call Duncan a pragmatic
choice. Obama officially introduced
Duncan as his nominee in December at a Chicago elementary school. Obama said Duncan has championed charter
schools and shut down failing schools, and he praised the gains in student test
scores that have occurred under Duncan’s leadership in Chicago. Obama said his administration, when it comes
to education policy, would not be “clouded by ideology.” Duncan’s selection won swift praise from
Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who lauded his record in Chicago and
said his pragmatism would be crucial to his effectiveness as secretary. Duncan, head of the Chicago school system
since 2001, is well regarded in the education community, and he has won praise
for an emphasis on teacher quality and focus on graduation rates in the
nation’s third-largest school district.
Duncan favors keeping, but
significantly revising, President Bush’s 2001 No Child Left Behind law. In a 2006 hearing on Capitol Hill, Duncan
said Congress should maintain the law’s “framework of high expectations and
accountability,” but said districts and states should be granted greater
flexibility under the law. He also
challenged Congress to double funding for the law within five years. “We think he understands that the top-down
approach is not working and local school districts need greater flexibility,”
said Reggie Felton, director of federal relations for the National School
Boards Association. “At the same time,
he knows what it means to hold local school districts accountable.”
Education experts say that
with Duncan’s selection, Obama achieved a challenging balancing act of
appeasing both teachers’ unions and reformers who favor more accountability and
merit pay for teachers. Advocates for
early childhood education said Duncan would be well positioned to execute
Obama’s ambitious plans for early childhood education, such as increasing
funding for Head Start and quadrupling participation in Early Head Start. Education experts predict that Obama will try
to accomplish some of his goals for early childhood education before tackling
the more challenging—and divisive—reauthorization of the No Child law. Current Secretary Margaret Spellings called
Duncan a “visionary leader and fellow reformer” who has advanced policies to
hold schools accountable for providing all students with a high-quality
education.
This article was reprinted with permission
from the NSBA Legal Clips service.
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