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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
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