US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (R) at the Treasury Department in Washington, October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced today that he would resign in December. He will be replaced by former New York state commissioner John King, who has been most recently serving as a deputy secretary at the Department of Education. Some reflections by the AEI Education scholars on Duncan’s tenure:
Arne Duncan is a good man with an impressive, sincere commitment to serving the nation’s students. Many of the ideas he has championed — like better teacher evaluation, charter schooling, and evidence-based grant-making — are good ones. Unfortunately, he too often pursued his agenda in troubling ways and in a manner that has created worrisome precedents. His sincere commitment too often manifested itself as a disregard for limits on the federal role and for possible unintended consequences of a too-heavy federal hand.
Duncan took office with a wealth of stimulus funding at his disposal, and used it to create a 19-category Race to the Top checklist that pushed states to sign onto the administration’s preferred reform agenda. He employed waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in a manner that was certainly lawless (even if not technically illegal) to compel states to double-down on those same reforms. He dismissed those raising concerns about the Common Core as a “fringe,” worked to shutter the Washington DC Opportunity Scholarship program while touting his support for school choice, and showed little interest in working with Congress to fix an NCLB that he repeatedly deemed ‘broken.’ Duncan’s personal virtues will be missed, but his departure presents a welcome opportunity for the Obama administration to engage in a much-needed course correction.
Secretary Duncan’s primary focus has always seemed to be K-12 education, though he oversaw and advocated for major policy changes in higher education policy as well, some of which were worthwhile, some of which were counterproductive. Duncan used the bully pulpit to focus attention on student success, not just access, and the need to demand more from colleges. During his tenure, the Department of Education took important steps to help inform students about their college options, eventually abandoning a misguided effort to rate colleges in favor of one focused on providing better data. The Department has also paid close attention to the need to promote innovation in higher education. These were important contributions.
Unfortunately, the policy often did not match the rhetoric. The Department spent many years and lots of political capital to implement additional regulations on for-profit colleges and vocational programs that serve a small slice of enrollments, distracting from the need to hold all colleges to a higher standard. The Administration also made changes to income-based repayment that, however well-intentioned, have delivered the largest benefits to graduate student borrowers and given institutions little incentive to keep their prices low. The latest push, for free community college, represents a major pivot away from a results-oriented, innovative reform agenda.
Arne Duncan has been a commendable public servant during a long a turbulent term as head of the Department of Education. He championed a number of positive initiatives —including charter school expansion and improved teacher evaluation systems — and was not afraid to push them against the will of powerful interests. However, during Duncan’s tenure, the Department of Education’s influence over state and local K-12 education policy grew to the unprecedented levels we see today. In the wake of the great recession and the increasingly problematic consequences of No Child Left Behind, the Department used large programs like Race to the Top grants and NCLB Waiver to drive states to adopt a numerous large reform initiatives at the same time. ED’s outsized federal role is also evident in its smaller steps, like its overreach on school discipline policies. John King will take office with continued and unprecedented waiver authority and slim chances of Congress reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in the short run. A change at the helm could bring a new tack in federal policy, but since King comes from inside the department makes that unlikely.
Secretary Duncan and I worked together during my time in Virginia and Florida. We found common ground on charters, metrics for teachers, and accountability standards. Not so much on vouchers for D.C. families and certain NCLB waivers. Nevertheless, I believe Arne’s voice mattered to our national conversation about results, reform and race. I thank him and his family–an often forgotten partner in public service–for their work to improve American education.
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1JKqBUZ
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment