Three key things to know about Obama’s new education chief
President Obama, deciding that Acting Education Secretary John King should drop the “acting” from his title, has nominated him to officially lead the department for the last year of the Obama administration. King took control of the Education Department early this year following the departure of longtime secretary Arne Duncan, and he is now set to testify at Senate confirmation hearings starting Thursday. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Republican from Tennessee who heads the Senate education committee, saidKing’s nomination will be considered quickly, and confirmation is expected.
That said, King remains something of a lightning rod in parts of the education community. Before joining the U.S. Education Department as Duncan’s No. 2 in early 2015, King spent 3½ controversial years as New York State’s education commissioner. His push to implement school reforms — including the Common Core State Standards — sparked a revolt from educators, parents and students, 20 percent of whom refused to take the state-mandated “accountability” test last spring. Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a reform proponent, criticized King’s tenure.
King’s leadership in New York was the subject of numerous posts on this blog over the past several years by Carol Burris, a former New York high school principal who is now executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education Fund. She was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and in 2013, the same organization named her the New York State High School Principal of the Year. In this new piece, Burris explains three key things that Americans should know about the man who is expected to be the next U.S. education secretary.
By Carol Burris
John King, whose nomination hearings as secretary of education begin in the U.S. Senate 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 3½ years he served as New York’s education commissioner 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 Three key things to know about Obama’s new education chief - The Washington Post:
