Arne Duncan, the man at the helm of Chicago public schools for the last seven years and a longtime friend of President-elect Barack Obama, has been tapped as secretary of education for the new administration.

As chief of the country's third-biggest school district since 2001, Duncan built a reputation as a reformer and was credited with turning around several troubled Chicago schools.

He pushed to boost teacher quality, something Obama stressed during his campaign, and student test scores have risen significantly during his tenure. Duncan helped create a five-year teacher contract in Chicago that built in raises for each year in order to boost staff stability in schools. The graduation rate has jumped nearly 6 percent and 53 new public schools have opened during his time in the position, reported the Chicago Tribune.

"When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners," Obama said at a news conference Tuesday.

"He's not beholden to any one ideology, and he's worked tirelessly to improve teacher quality," the president-elect said.

Duncan also embraced and expanded charter schools, which Obama has vowed to double funding for, and began an experimental performance-pay plan for students. Many of his initiatives have been embraced by educators, but he did meet resistance from teachers and parents by closing some of the city's lowest performing schools and then re-opening some of them with new staffs.

Obama made the announcement at Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago, a school Duncan closed and then reopened, according to USA Today.

"He's been pretty willing to fight some political battles about closing dysfunctional schools," John Q. Easton, executive director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago told the Chicago Tribune "I think he's got willingness for a lot of ideas, and checking out how they're doing and making changes based on that."

An adviser on Obama's education policy, Duncan has not advocated the scrapping No Child Left Behind, but has called for more flexibility in the law. In 2006, he called on Congress to double funding for the measure.

A 44-year-old Harvard graduate, Duncan has played basketball with Obama since the 1990s. He was a co-captain of the Harvard basketball team and played professionally in Australia before beginning his education career.

Before being selected by Mayor Richard Daley as schools chief, Duncan worked for a nonprofit education organization on Chicago's South side.

Duncan's nomination will please reform advocates who wanted a big-city schools chief in the position not afraid to hold schools accountable for student performance, but could cause backlash from teacher unions that wanted a strong advocate for their members.

Central to the debate between the two groups has been the No Child Left Behind law. Reform groups see problems with the law but agree with the law's intent and with punishment for schools with failing test scores. The union coalition emphasizes that factors beyond the classroom affect how well kids learn, and that test scores can't be the only measure of success.

In his new position, Duncan will have to work to bring advocates and lawmakers to compromises, Michael J. Petrilli, who was associate assistant deputy secretary in the Education Department from 2001 to 2005, told the Washington Post.

"This confirms what we know, that President-elect Obama has reform instincts but he's also a diplomat and is careful to not alienate key constituencies in the Democratic Party and across the aisle," Petrilli said. "That's going to be a delicate balance to walk the line between the reform camp and the education establishment."

-- Compiled from wire reports and other media sources