Arne Duncan Hops On A Bus To Address Rust Belt School Districts
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan kicked off his three-day Great Lakes bus tour here, in a city he calls a national model for school reform.
"It wasn't a coincidence that we wanted to start this bus tour in Pittsburgh," Duncan told a gymnasium full of students, teachers and parents at Martin Luther King Elementary School. "I know you've had some tough conversations behind closed doors. But I know what you're doing collectively is also a model for the country."
Pittsburgh was just the first stop on Duncan's back-to-school tour, which will roll through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. The education secretary is aiming to spread his gospel of teacher accountability, pushing education reform in the face of massive state budget cuts and his own recent decision to unilaterally waive components of the federal No Child Left Behind education law.
In Pittsburgh, Duncan stepped off what he called "the magic school bus" to be greeted by a