John King: More of the Same (or Worse)
John King, whose nomination hearings as Secretary of Education begin on Thursday, is an unknown quantity to most Americans. The profiles being published focus on his personal biography, which is compelling. Yet his leadership during the three and a half years he served as New York’s Commissioner of Education is far more relevant to how he will lead the U.S. Department of Education. That story should not be ignored.
John King was a teacher for a total of three years–first in a private school and then in a charter. For a brief time, he served as a co-director of Roxbury Prep (he was never a principal as he claims), a Boston charter middle school that had about 200 students when King was there. He left to become Managing Director of the Uncommon Schools charter chain, which is regularly criticized for its high rates of student suspension.
While a doctoral student at Teachers College, King met classmate and Board of Regents member, Merryl Tisch. In April of 2009, Tisch became the Chancellor of the Board of Regents. In September 2009, John King was appointed deputy commissioner. Two years later he was appointed commissioner, following the abrupt resignation of David Steiner. There was never a search–just a hasty succession.
King was appointed senior adviser to Arne Duncan in 2014, and Acting Secretary of Education when Duncan left in December of 2015. President Obama now wants to permanently appoint him. Will King be able to lead the country in a new direction? Here is what this former high school principal learned about John King during the time he led the public schools of New York.
1. John King’s style is inflexible and he is quick to criticize the motives of those with whom he disagrees.
Problems began early in his tenure. During an October 2011 conference of the Long Island chapter of the Association of Curriculum and Development[1], King argued that those who opposed the Race to the Top reforms were creators of “false dichotomies.” Cognizant of the opposition of principals to his teacher evaluation system, he told the audience of administrators that they could either “lament it or use it” and characterized opposition to evaluation of teachers by test scores as “political.”
Conflicts between King and those with whom he disagreed escalated. By October of 2013, opposition to the Common Core and testing had grown so strong that King was encouraged by the State PTA to hold forums, the first of which took place in Poughkeepsie, New York. King lectured for an hour and a half. By the last half hour of the evening, the audience was both boisterous and impassioned, angered because there was limited opportunity to speak. King then cancelled the rest of the scheduled forums. In response to an inquiry about the cancellations by John King: More of the Same (or Worse) - Network For Public Education:
