Who will be Secretary of Education?

by desertjim

The incoming Obama administration made lots of news last week by naming the economic team that will be taking over at the end of January. Other probable appointments like Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services and Bill Richardson for Commerce have been leaked to the press. However, the choice for Secretary of Education seems to be very much in doubt. The number of possible candidates listed in TIME magazine, on Yahoo, and in the political blogs is lengthy.

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, here is the list I cobbled together:

Howard Dean, former governor and chairman of the Democratic Pary
Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City schools
Linda Darling-Hammond, education advisor to the Obama campaign
Arne Duncan, CEO of Chicago Public Schools
Wendy Kopp, founder and chairman of Teach for America
Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, DC public school system
Christopher Edley, Jr., Dean of the Law School at University of California, Berkeley
James B. Hunt, Jr., Former governor of North Carolina
Caroline Kennedy, member of the Obama campaign’s vice-presidential search committee
Johnathan Schnur, Chief executive of New Leaders for New Schools

There are probably other names floating around out there, but these seem to be the most commonly mentioned. Janet Napolitano (governor of Arizona) was on earlier lists, but she will be taking over as head of Homeland Security. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was also mentioned, but he has stated clearly that he has no interest in further service in DC.

Whoever takes over will be only the ninth Secretary of Education. Education was promoted to cabinet rank during the administration of Jimmy Carter. As educators, should we be looking for an educational administrator like Klein or Rhee, an education reformer like Kopp or Darling-Hammond, a college educator like Edley, or a politician like Dean?

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One of the key ingredients to the success of a modern nation is education. It builds a better people to have good standards in all the aspects of their lives. America has recently had a presidential election, and education is a key issue. President-elect Barack Obama already has some ideas. According to this article, he wants to take a good look at the No Child Left Behind act. He doesn’t want to get rid of it altogether, but he does want reform, especially when it comes to the subject of standardized testing, and he is against having students “fill in bubbles” every year, and preparing them to only do so. Both he and Vice president-elect Joe Biden are both supporters of charter schools, provided they perform adequately. Teachers at private and charter schools will be in line for incentives such as the Teacher Service Scholarships, and pay bonuses and increases to perform to standards. This is a good proposal for teachers and they will have reward with their great job. He also wants to boost Early Head Start programs and give tax credits (or as he calls it the “American Opportunity” credit) for college education and these things are all at the forefront of his education plan. 

I was directing an alt cert program during Darling-Hammond’s vociferous demeaning of “six-week wonder” programs through which any live body that could withstand 6 weeks of sped-up, spoon-fed teacher preparation (hardly an education) could have his or her own classroom. She was not against good teacher preparation programs. In fact in recent years she has written about quality alternative certification programs and their place in teacher education.
In addition, if you do a little research into her background, you will find her to be the the the consummate voice of reason against those who would test our students for the purpose of retaining a classed system, under the guise of “accountability.” Her prolific published writings discuss the need for equity in education.
She is also responsible for the continued effort to professionalize teaching in the face of politicos and corporate types who would have teachers reading from scripted teacher manuals. Those of us who are familiar with her, her work , the quality of her work and her reputation believe she is the person who would best serve both teachers and children as secretary of education.
Check out NCTAF, a commission Darling-Hammond was responsible for putting in place, at http://www.nctaf.org.

Well, we now know the answer to this question.  What do others feel Obama’s choice reveals about his priorities and the message he wants to send?  I have to believe it’s more than, Arne is someone who is a good buddy. 

I have great admiration for Linda Darling-Hammond, but I’m wondering if Arne Duncan’s in the field experience isn’t what got him the nod . . . in contrast to D-H’s academic and researcher perspective.  These were my top two choices by the way.