President Elect Obama continues his movement toward reform and enlightened policy-making with the nomination of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. With a track record of reform and a deep commitment to student success, Duncan brings the hope for moving American education onto the 21st Century stage and for preparing students to perform masterfully on that stage. In synch with Obama and Biden, he declares that no issue is more important that education for the future of America’s economy and global competitiveness. Duncan sees education as the civil rights challenge of our era, for a first class education is the path toward full participation in society.
What remains ahead for Duncan are the challenges of reforming existing education policies and creating new, forward-thinking policies. He believes that NCLB needs more flexibility, and his challenge is to move policy-makers to revamp the law to do so. Educators will wait, anxiously, to see how Arne Duncan defines flexibility and whether policies that have been stifling education will be changed. We also know that Duncan is deeply committed to creating schools from K-16 and curricula that enable students to attain a 21st Century education. Shaping policies and practices that create such is the challenge. To do so Duncan will need to capture the momentum of public concern about America’s future that is arising from the current economic crisis, shunting some its energy into policy reform.
In the weeks ahead may Arne Duncan and the team he assembles begin sending the public, parents, and educators, particularly the policy weary educators, messages of what to expect and some glimmers of hope for all.
