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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Biden Picks Connecticut Commissioner Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Biden Picks Connecticut Commissioner Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog
Biden Picks Connecticut Commissioner Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education



President-Elect Joe Biden selected Dr. Miguel Cardona, Commissioner of Education in Connecticut, to be his administration’s Secretary of Education.

The Washington Post wrote about him:

President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate the commissioner of public schools in Connecticut as his education secretary, settling on a low-profile candidate who has pushed to reopen schools and is not aligned with either side in education policy battles of recent years, two people familiar with the matter said Monday.

Miguel Cardona was named Connecticut’s top schools official last year and if confirmed will have achieved a meteoric rise, moving from an assistant superintendent in Meriden, Conn., a district with 9,000 students, to secretary of education in less than two years.

He was born in Meriden to Puerto Rican parents who lived in public housing. He began his career as a fourth-grade teacher and rocketed up the ranks, becoming the state’s youngest principal at age 28. He was named the state’s principal of the year in 2012...

A finalist for the job was Leslie Fenwick, former dean of the Howard University School of Education and a fierce critic of education policies such as test-based accountability for schools and teachers who have been popular with centrists in both political parties.

Cardona represented a safer selection. He does not CONTINUE READING: Biden Picks Connecticut Commissioner Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog