PARIS — The U.S. education secretary is hopeful that this week's Republican election victories won't derail ambitious school reforms, which he argues are crucial to keeping up in an ever-smarter global economy.
"We used to be at the top of the world" in education rankings, Arne Duncan told The Associated Press in Paris on Thursday. "People think we're still there, but we're not."
In an interview, he said the "absolutely unacceptable" U.S. high school dropout rate — a quarter of students drop out or don't finish on time — "produces the effect of a permanent recession" because of lost productivity.
Duncan says he's relieved the elections are over and is "very hopeful" that the new Congress will approve the funding he wants to turn around poor schools and encourage better teacher performance. "I have a good relationship with (incoming House Speaker) John Boehner, I've known Boehner for years, I look forward to continuing to work with him."
Duncan has been working with Democratic and Republican legislators for months on getting the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorized, and said the bipartisan discussions have been a model of civility. "We're looking forward to reauthorizing and hopefully moving pretty quickly," he said, though gave no timeframe.
He was similarly upbeat though vague about the future of Race to the Top, a program of federa