Newsom names new head of State Board of Education in California
Linda Darling-Hammond to succeed Michael Kirst on powerful state education body
n his first State of the State speech Tuesday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom named Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor emeritus and one of the nation’s most prominent education researchers, to head California’s State Board of Education.
“Thank you for doing this, Linda,” Newsom said in his speech, in which he noted the multiple problems facing the state’s schools, referring to “understaffed schools, overcrowded classrooms, pension pressures, the achievement gap, and charter schools growth.”
Newsom added: “The stressors are showing up all over the state.”
Darling-Hammond, who currently chairs the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, will succeed another Stanford professor emeritus, Michael Kirst, who led the state board during Jerry Brown’s first terms as governor, as well as his last two terms. Kirst, a close advisor to Brown for over four decades on education matters, decided to step down from the board in December at the end of Brown’s four terms as governor.
Darling-Hammond and Kirst have been close collaborators, and in fact live within blocks of each other adjoining the Stanford campus. She will be the first African-American woman to head the 11-person board, which plays a key role in CONTINUE READING: Newsom names new head of State Board of Education in California | EdSource
