The Biggest Loser – Grumpy Old Teacher

The Biggest Loser – Grumpy Old Teacher

The Biggest Loser

Florida Politics, a media platform,* has a weekly feature whereby it names the biggest winners and losers of the week in Florida politics. This week, it named Richard Corcoran, Commissioner of Education and erstwhile-House Speaker who was known for always getting his way (is that code language for a bully?), as the week’s biggest loser for issuing a memo to school superintendents to suggest (go back and read the previous parentheses) that mandatory mask policies serve no purpose and should disappear when the next school year begins.

Florida Politics:

THE BIGGEST LOSER: RICHARD CORCORAN. COVID-19 cases are increasing in Florida (and many other places). The Florida Department of Health Tuesday reported 9,068 additional virus cases.

That’s the highest one-day increase since Feb. 5.

That makes the pronouncement by Education Commissioner RICHARD CORCORAN all the more bizarre.

IN A MEMO to public school district superintendents, Corcoran recommended they drop the mandatory mask requirements for the 2021-22 academic year.

Why?

Corcoran’s memo said, “they serve no remaining good at this point in our schools.”

It’s long been obvious to Florida educators that politicians like Richard Corcoran are ignorant about public schools, Florida’s school districts, and CONTINUE READING: The Biggest Loser – Grumpy Old Teacher

Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year | janresseger @teachcardona

Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year | janresseger

Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year

There is absolutely no reason why the U.S. Department of Education should refuse to grant states waivers this spring from the federal requirement for standardized testing. Two weeks ago, a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Ian Rosenblum released guidance telling states they must test students as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act despite the pandemic. After that, the Senate finally voted to confirm President Biden’s appointment of Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education.

We all hope that Dr. Cardona will reconsider. And it is becoming clear that the subject is not closed.  Experts, parents, educators, and members of the public continue to press the new Secretary of Education to do the right thing in this year when some students have been in school, many are on hybrid schedules, and many others continue to learn remotely.

Why should Secretary Cardona cancel testing this spring? When Rosenblum announced that he was charging ahead to require testing, he ignored more than a month of informed advocacy by board of education members, education experts, school administrators, schoolteachers and parents—all pushing the Department of Education to grant states waivers to cancel the tests in this COVID-19 year. (See here, here, here, and here.) No one in the Department has provided a convincing justification for requiring that the high-stakes tests be administered this school year.

Opponents of testing this spring have spoken about problems of feasibility when some CONTINUE READING: Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year | janresseger

NANCY BAILEY - Education Secretary Cardona, End Third Grade Retention and High-Stakes Standardized Testing!

Education Secretary Cardona, End Third Grade Retention and High-Stakes Standardized Testing!

Education Secretary Cardona, End Third Grade Retention and High-Stakes Standardized Testing!

The Biden administration chose a real educator to be education secretary. Now Dr. Cardona should move to end third-grade retention, a procedure that would be especially cruel administered with this pandemic. Many alternative plans are available to help children do better in school that won’t involve the humiliation of retention.

Cardona should withhold federal funds to school districts that flunk third graders. He could accomplish this better if he’d cancel the high-stakes tests.

Educators and parents are furious about the Biden administration going forward with high-stakes testing. Repeatedly Americans are told that children have mental problems and are depressed because they’re not in school, not learning with their favorite teachers, or socializing with their friends. It’s disingenuous to claim one cares about a child’s emotions and send them to school to take a high pressured test during this pandemic!

Worse is to tell a child they failed the test and will stay in the same grade! Or to say they didn’t do well on the test, but if they don’t want to fail, they can retake the test!

This rotten practice got momentum in the State of Florida under former Governor Jeb Bush. If Bush had wanted to do right by children, if he’d been a savvy leader for CONTINUE READING: Education Secretary Cardona, End Third Grade Retention and High-Stakes Standardized Testing!

From Sec. Cardona: A Letter to Parents & Students - ED.gov Blog

From Sec. Cardona: A Letter to Parents & Students - ED.gov Blog

From Sec. Cardona: A Letter to Parents & Students

Click here for a copy of this letter in Spanish

To our Nation’s Parents and Students:  

I write first, as your new Secretary of Education, to acknowledge the extraordinarily challenging year you’ve endured. Between the health crisis, economic hardship, staunch national division, and the struggle to make progress in learning while apart from teachers and peers, the impact of the pandemic is still very real and will be felt for years to come.   

And yet, you’ve kept going. As a parent of two who experienced these same concerns and uncertainties, and an educator who has been moved by the resilience of the students and families I’ve met, let me say: you deserve recognition and you have my deepest thanks.   

Brighter days are ahead. We are making progress. More schools across the country are reopening for in-person learning, and they’re doing so with the help of clear, science-based guidance from experts in the field. The Department has released part one of a COVID-19 Handbook to help schools implement guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and we’re working on the second volume. Together, these guides will provide more evidence-based strategies for schools to minimize disruptions caused by school closures, especially for our most vulnerable students and communities and address the impact of COVID-19 on educational opportunity across communities. 

The most pressing challenges we face aren’t new. Since I began teaching more than 20 years ago, opportunity gaps remain. There are still unacceptable disparities in high school graduation rates and higher education is still out of reach for too many students, including learners of color, those from low-income families, and those, as I was, who would be the first in their families to attend.   

These inequities aren’t just holding our children back from achieving their full potential – they’re holding our nation back, too. We all benefit when our children have high-quality opportunities to develop their skills and build their knowledge – and then, share their gifts and talents with the world.  

Our first priority is to return students to the classroom for in-person learning, but we know there’s more work to be done once we’ve achieved that goal. We’re also working toward building better career pathways, making college more affordable, ensuring all students have access to high quality schools with a balance of quality coursework that include the arts and sciences, supporting teacher quality and improving teacher diversity, ensure teachers receive the support and respect they need and deserve, expanding access to high-quality preschool, and supporting high-quality career and technical education.   

President Biden’s plans are bold, but they match the urgency that the challenges before us demand. And as Secretary, I will always keep students and their success at the heart of the Department’s work.  

We know that, given the right support, resources and opportunities, our potential is boundless. Despite our worries as parents, this year we’ve seen new proofs of our children’s ingenuity, optimism, and ability to overcome the toughest of circumstances.   

If we all commit to approaching the remainder of this school year – and the years to come – with this same mindset of possibility, dedication, and innovation, we can and will make good on our promise to America’s students. As an educator and as a parent, I commit to safeguarding and advancing the dreams of your children, as I commit to the dreams of my own son and daughter.  

Our nation’s students deserve – and they will get – our very best efforts, our most collaborative thinking, and our deepest belief in their abilities. Together, we can build a future of promise and opportunity that makes no exceptions.  

Sincerely,   

Secretary Miguel Cardona 

Posts you may also like

• Finding Teachable Moments on the Field and in the Classroom
• Announcing the RISE Award for Classified School Employees
• Learning About Whole Child, Whole School Sustainability on the 2019 Green Strides Tour

From Sec. Cardona: A Letter to Parents & Students - ED.gov Blog

Lifelong Educator, Miguel Cardona, Confirmed As Education Secretary | 89.3 KPCC

Lifelong Educator, Miguel Cardona, Confirmed As Education Secretary | 89.3 KPCC

Lifelong Educator, Miguel Cardona, Confirmed As Education Secretary

The U.S. Department of Education will have a new leader. Late Monday, in a 64 to 33 vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed Miguel Cardona to be the next Secretary of Education.

Before being nominated by President Biden, Cardona served as Connecticut's education commissioner for the past year and a half, arguing forcefully that schools should reopen during the COVID-19 crisis in order to keep equity gaps from growing ever wider. Before that, he spent his entire career working for the public school system that helped raise him — as a fourth grade teacher, principal and assistant superintendent in the old factory town of Meriden, Conn.

Cardona assumes the Education Department's top job as the debate around how to safely reopen schools has grown increasingly bitter, with many parents clamoring for children to be able to return to classrooms and with many teachers resisting a return before all educators have been vaccinated. That has forced Biden to walk a political tightrope, reassuring teachers they should be prioritized for the vaccine while new guidance from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes clear that vaccinations should not be a prerequisite for reopening schools.

The school tracking website, Burbio, suggests schools have been gradually reopening. According to its tracker, 27.5% of students still attend virtual-only schools — down from 31% the week before. An additional 28% attend schools offering CONTINUE READING: Lifelong Educator, Miguel Cardona, Confirmed As Education Secretary | 89.3 KPCC

Joe Biden's Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education - LA Progressive

Joe Biden's Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education - LA Progressive

Joe Biden’s Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education

In picking Connecticut Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona to be his nominee for U.S. secretary of education, President-elect Joe Biden appears to have made a Goldilocks choice that pleases just about everyone. People who rarely agree on education policy have praised the decision, including Jeanne Allen, CEO of the Center for Education Reform, a nonprofit group that advocates for charter schools and school choice, who called Cardona “good news,” and education historian Diane Ravitch, who also called the pick “good news” because he does not seem to be aligned with advocates for charter schools and vouchers. Sara Sneed, president and CEO of the NEA Foundation, a public charity founded by educators, called Cardona an “ideal candidate,” in an email, and hailed him for “his emphasis on the need to end structural racism in education and for his push for greater educational equity and opportunity through public schools.”

But as Biden and Cardona—should he be approved, as most expect—begin to address the array of critical issues that confront the nation’s schools, there’s bound to be more of a pushback. Or maybe not?

After years of federal policy malpractice, the nation is eager for a fresh agenda for public schools.

After decades of federal legislation that emphasized mandating standardized testing and tying school and teacher evaluations to the scores; imposing financial austerity on public institutions; incentivizing various forms of privatization; and undermining teachers’ professionalism and labor rights, there is a keen appetite for a new direction for school policy.

Due to the disruption forced by the pandemic, much is being written and said about the need to “restart and reinvent” education and a newfound appreciation for schools as essential infrastructure for families and children. With an incoming CONTINUE READING: Joe Biden's Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education - LA Progressive

Hoping for a Stronger Focus on Public Education in 2021 and Beyond | Truth in American Education

Hoping for a Stronger Focus on Public Education in 2021 and Beyond | Truth in American Education

Hoping for a Stronger Focus on Public Education in 2021 and Beyond

We need a Secretary of Education who has classroom teaching experience beyond grade 5 and has administered a middle or high school for at least a couple of years or so.  This experience gives teaching faculty a chance to understand and tell us a little bit about a candidate’s supervisory style. No need for a particular ethnicity or race or gender.  We’ve tried using all these sociocultural criteria, especially in our major cities.  But no criterion has worked for most kids.  

Are recent nation-wide riots, looting, and arson all in large part expressions of our frustration with and rage at seemingly failed or ineffective educational institutions?  We haven’t tried yet to make other institutions or agencies for public health or safety responsible for educating the nation’s children.  We need to try, because it is clear that public educational facilities are no longer capable of educating our young or producing productive citizens.

There are several questions we should ask ourselves to try to understand the basis for the many waves of rioting in our major cities in recent years, most recently Portland, Oregon.  

1. Why haven’t our educational institutions found effective remedial strategies for low-achieving students by now—over 50 years after the first federal grants to low-income schools and communities in ESEA in 1965?
2. Do schools in undeveloped or under-developed countries produce similar or lower levels of performance on the TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA tests given to comparable children of low-income parents in this country on these tests? These have been the chief international tests available for our states to participate in.     
3. What are the average scores for each demographic group in countries with many non-dominant population groups as in the USA, Australia, Canada, and Singapore?

Maybe education researchers have looked at the wrong things or not asked the right questions, such as:

1. How much reading or other homework have teachers assigned their students in K-12?
2. How many parents check the time their children go to bed every night and how much they read or practice every day?
3. Why have pre-schools on average, or after-school programs extending school teaching hours, failed to create equity among demographic groups in the K-12 school population? 
4. Why has the use of literary texts and curriculum-aligned textbooks whose subject matter and vocabulary have been reduced in difficulty (such as in recent Afrocentric curricula like 1619 ) failed to boost minority scores?

Who could be recommended for Secretary of Education?  Perhaps all parents would agree that such a CONTINUE READING: Hoping for a Stronger Focus on Public Education in 2021 and Beyond | Truth in American Education

Teachers to Biden: What we want from your administration + Jamaal Bowman: ending the school-to-prison pipeline + Americans keep getting wrong about our unions - The Washington Post

Teachers to Biden: What we want from your administration - The Washington Post

Teachers to Biden: What we want from your administration

Teachers around the country are eager to see where President Biden and his Education Department take federal policy to improve public schools — especially after four years of the Trump administration, which did not try to hide its contempt for public education.

In this post, three educators who have decades of cumulative experience teaching students and teachers spell out where they hope the new administration will go in helping schools provide an education to all students that, as they explain, “is relevant and engages them in things that matter.”

The three are Jenna Fournel, Cosby Hunt and Aleta Margolis — all of them from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Inspired Teaching, a nonprofit that provides innovative professional learning programs for teachers and seeks to transform the school experience for students from compliance-based to engagement-based.

In their following letter to Biden, Vice President Harris, and Miguel Cardona, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate as education secretary, they urge a focus on “support of inquiry-based teaching and learning, media literacy, anti-racist pedagogy, prioritizing social studies and science, and centering teachers in our democracy.”

Fournel is director of digital programming and communications at the organization, where she leads its #Inspired2Learn initiative. A former high school English teacher, Fournel has served as director of communications for the National Council of Teachers of English. Contact Fournel at jenna@inspiredteaching.org or follow her on Twitter @inspireteach.

Hunt is director of youth programming and leads the organization’s Speak Truth and Real World History programs. Hunt is a National Board Certified teacher who has taught social studies to students and teachers in Washington, D.C., for more than 20 years. He is also the 2019 National History Day Teacher of the Year, and currently teaches AP U.S. History at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School in Southeast Washington. Contact Hunt at Cosby@inspiredteaching.org. CONTINUE READING: Teachers to Biden: What we want from your administration - The Washington Post

How to start ending the school-to-prison pipeline — by an educator just elected to the U.S. House - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/02/03/ending-school-to-prison-pipline/

Teacher: What Americans keep getting wrong about our unions during the pandemic - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/02/02/what-american-get-wrong-about-teachersunions/

Stop the Tests. Stop Vouchers. It's Up to You. - Network For Public Education

Stop the Tests. Stop Vouchers. It's Up to You. - Network For Public Education

Stop the Tests. Stop Vouchers. It’s Up to You.

Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing as U.S. Secretary of Education will take place this Wednesday. You can watch the hearing live at 10:00 am EST here.

We believe he should immediately waive the requirement for spring testing. You can find our letter to him here. We are delighted that 74 national, state, and local public education advocacy groups signed that letter, along with nearly 12,000 friends of our nation’s children and public schools.

Our letter to Dr. Cardona appeared yesterday in The Washington Post​​. It is now our job to bring that message to Dr. Cardona and his team.

Beginning today, send the following tweets:

I stand with 74 organizations calling for a waiver on standardized testing this spring!  https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/30/biden-administration-urged-allow-states-cancel-spring-standardized-testing/ Read why  @teachcardona @POTUS @usedgov @BeKindDreamBig

12,000 friends of children are begging, no spring testing this year. We need a waiver, @teachcardona @POTUS @usedgov @BeKindDreamBig . See the organizations. Read the names. Cancel the tests. @teachcardona @POTUS @usedgov @BeKindDreamBig

When you send your tweet, please download and attach this image.

---

Capitalizing on parental discontent regarding schooling during COVID 19,  right-wing, anti-public school members of state legislatures are introducing and pushing a flurry of terrible school voucher legislation. In many state legislatures, they are now the majority.

Join Public Funds, Public Schools and NPE this Thursday at 4:00 pm. to learn what is happening and what you can do.

Register here.

---

Mark your calendar for the new date for our national conference. Due to the ongoing dangers posed by COVID-19, we have re-scheduled our National Conference to October 23 and 24, 2021. Our conference will still take place at the same location, the Doubletree Hotel in Philadelphia. We will be sending more information to registrants shortly. Know that your conference registration is secure, as is our commitment to speakers and panels.

Thank you, always, for all that you do.

Stop the Tests. Stop Vouchers. It's Up to You. - Network For Public Education

Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital – Wrench in the Gears

Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital – Wrench in the Gears

Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital

Tonight my friend Zakiya Sankara-Jabar of Real Talk With ZSJ invited me to discuss the appointment Dr. Miguel Cardona, former Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning in the Meriden, CT School District, to the position of the US Secretary of Education. We covered a lot of ground including: how pay for success finance was layered into the Every Student Succeeds Act, considerations around community schools, tele-health and data privacy, interoperable data systems, the transition to competency-based education and learning ecosystems, adoption of Open Education Resources, virtual reality, behavior and skills badges tied to lifelong debt, social-emotional learning, and the ethical implications of social impact investing in early childhood education. It was a packed three hours.

For other recent podcasts and interviews visit my Youtube channel here. A playlist of interviews can be accessed here, including two previous interviews Zakiya and I did together here and here.

CONTINUE READING: Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital – Wrench in the Gears

Education Pick Miguel Cardona On Biden's Promise To Reopen Schools | 89.3 KPCC

Education Pick Miguel Cardona On Biden's Promise To Reopen Schools | 89.3 KPCC

Education Pick Miguel Cardona On Biden's Promise To Reopen Schools

With many U.S. schools still shuttered or operating on a limited basis, and millions of children learning remotely (or trying to), the stakes are high for Miguel Cardona. He is President Biden's pick to run the U.S. Department of Education, and if confirmed, he'll be charged with making good on Biden's promise to re-open most K-12 schools during the new administration's first 100 days.

When asked Monday if that goal was "too optimistic," Cardona pushed back: "No, I think it's strong leadership."

That answer came in an interview with Lucy Nalpathanchil, host of Connecticut Public Radio's Where We Live, in which Cardona reflected on what it would take to meet Biden's goal.

"Ultimately, we can only safely reopen our schools while we are able to reduce spread and contain the virus," he said, an acknowledgement that, at the moment, the virus' spread remains unchecked in many communities.

Unlike former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Cardona has a long public school resume. He began as an elementary school teacher in his hometown, Meriden, Conn., then spent a decade as a principal in the same district, winning Connecticut principal of the year in 2012. Cardona eventually helped run the district as assistant superintendent, until he was tapped in August 2019 to be Connecticut's state CONTINUE READING: Education Pick Miguel Cardona On Biden's Promise To Reopen Schools | 89.3 KPCC

7 changes to expect from Biden’s Department of Education led by Miguel Cardona - Education Votes

7 changes to expect from Biden’s Department of Education led by Miguel Cardona - Education Votes

7 changes to expect from Biden’s Department of Education led by Miguel Cardona

By Amanda Menas and Amanda Litvinov

During the Biden-Harris administration educators will have new opportunities to advocate for policies at the federal level that will benefit the lives of students, families, and school communities. Issues such as decaying school infrastructure, the digital divide, and lack of access to school nurses and counselors—the results of unjust funding and policies born of white supremacy—will begin to be corrected.

President Biden’s nomination of Dr. Miguel Cardona as his education secretary shows he is serious about investing in public schools and listening to educators on what students need to succeed.

Lauren Mancini-Averitt is a high school social studies teacher in the Meriden School District, the same district where Miguel Cardona taught 4th grade, served as an elementary school principal, and later was named Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. 

She sees Cardona as the right person to fill the role of secretary of education, because “he is truly an educator. He’s inquisitive, he listens, and he knows how to work collaboratively,” says Mancini-Averitt, who is in her second year as a local president and her 31st year of teaching.

She says Cardona didn’t “turn all of that off” when he left the classroom to become a principal, or when he was tapped to write a new teacher evaluation plan required by then-Gov. Dan Malloy. Cardona, who is committed to union-management collaboration, worked closely with educator unions to craft that plan.

“He doesn’t walk in the room to be an official,” Mancini-Averitt says. “He walks in to learn CONTINUE READING: 7 changes to expect from Biden’s Department of Education led by Miguel Cardona - Education Votes

Biden / Harris administration charts new course - Education Votes - https://educationvotes.nea.org/2021/01/22/biden-harris-administration-charts-new-course/

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees

Contact:   Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced senior political appointees who will lead various parts of the agency. These diverse and accomplished individuals will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the agency and work to quickly advance key education priorities for the Biden-Harris administration.

Sheila Nix, Chief of Staff
Sheila Nix comes to the Department of Education after leading Tusk Philanthropies. She has nearly three decades of leadership in political, domestic policy, and innovative nonprofit operations. She recently worked on the Biden for President campaign as a senior advisor to then Sen. Kamala Harris. During the second Obama/Biden term, Nix served as the Chief of Staff to Dr. Jill Biden and as a Deputy Assistant to President Obama. In that position, she coordinated policy and communications for signature efforts serving veterans, teachers, students, and women and girls across the globe. Nix also served as Chief of Staff to then Vice President Joe Biden on the 2012 Obama/Biden campaign. She has helped develop policies on education, health care, and transportation as Deputy Governor of Illinois and as Chief of Staff to two U.S. Senators. In addition, Nix served as the U.S. Executive Director of Bono's ONE Campaign. She holds a law degree from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from Creighton University.

Claudia Chavez, White House Liaison
Claudia Chavez most recently served as a member of the Education Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition and on the Biden for President campaign as Midwest Deputy Director. Prior to joining the Biden campaign, Chavez held different positions with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, including Deputy Director for Legislative Council and Government Affairs. Chavez is an Illinois native and graduate of Illinois State University.

Suzanne Goldberg, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Operations and Outreach, Office for Civil Rights (serving as acting Assistant Secretary)
Suzanne Goldberg previously served as the inaugural Executive Vice President for University Life at Columbia University and the Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law and founding director of the Columbia Law School's Sexuality & Gender Law Clinic, and co-director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law. Before Columbia, she was on the Rutgers-Newark Law School faculty and an adjunct faculty member at Fordham Law School. Goldberg began her legal career as a staff lawyer with Lambda Legal, working on a variety of LGBT law reform cases and legislative and public policy initiatives.

Ian Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (serving as acting Assistant Secretary)
Ian Rosenblum most recently served as the founding Executive Director of the Education (Ed) Trust–New York, a statewide policy and advocacy organization committed to educational equity. Prior to leading Ed Trust–NY, Rosenblum served in the administrations of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Emma Leheny, Principal Deputy General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel (serving as acting General Counsel)
Emma Leheny joins the Biden-Harris administration from the National Education Association (NEA), where she served in the Office of General Counsel. Prior to that, she was Chief Counsel of the California Teachers Association (Association). Before joining the Association in 2010, Leheny practiced education, labor, and employment law for a decade in a California law firm, where she rose to partner. A graduate of Brown University and Northeastern School of Law, Leheny began her career as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and then as a Skadden Fellow, representing low-income parents pursuing higher education.

Donna Harris-Aikens, Senior Advisor for Policy and Planning, Office of the Secretary
Donna Harris-Aikens served as a member of the Education Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition and was a member of the Democratic National Convention Committee Platform Committee. She served as Senior Director for Education Policy and Practice at the National Education Association (NEA), where she advocated for students, educators, and working families to support equity and excellence in education, and to ensure working families had the right to organize and the opportunity to thrive in our global economy. Prior to joining NEA, Harris-Aikens served in leadership roles for the Service Employees International Union and Advance CTE and was an attorney in an education boutique law firm.

Ben Miller, Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff
Ben Miller is a temporary appointment as a Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff. Before joining the agency, he was the Vice President for Postsecondary Education at the Center for American Progress. He also previously served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.

Ben Halle, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications, Office of Communications and Outreach (serving as acting Assistant Secretary)
Ben Halle served as the Biden for President Communications Director in Michigan, where he led communications strategies and developed messaging for the President's winning campaign. Prior to that, Halle served in senior communications roles on campaigns and in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rich Williams, Chief of Staff, Office of Postsecondary Education
Rich Williams has spent his career working on college affordability, student debt, and consumer protection policies. Most recently, he helped lead an initiative at Pew Charitable Trusts working to devise policies that better support struggling student loan borrowers. Prior to his work at Pew, Williams led efforts to strengthen consumer protections for college students at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and helped craft higher education policy and strategy as the Senior Higher Education Policy Advisor for the House Committee on Education and Labor. Williams is a first-generation college graduate who received a bachelor's degree in history from Northern Arizona University after attending Coconino Community College.

Greg Schmidt, Senior Counsel, Office of the General Counsel
Greg Schmidt returns to the Department after six years at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where his work included representing institutions, organizations, and students in a variety of K-12 and post-secondary education matters. He also worked as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to his legal career, Schmidt taught fifth grade at P.S. 213 in Brooklyn, New York, and served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the Department.

Jasmine Bolton, Senior Counsel, Office for Civil Rights
Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Jasmine Bolton was a senior staff attorney at the Bail Project, where she helped coordinate the expansion into new jurisdictions in the South. Before that, Bolton was a policy analyst for the Warren for President campaign, where she focused on a broad range of interrelated topics such as criminal justice reform, K-12 education, and rural communities. Prior to that, she worked as a Legal Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she focused on educational equity, combating the school-to-prison pipeline, and improving youth access to mental health services.

Alex Payne, Special Assistant, Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs
Alex Payne previously worked in the House of Representatives for Congresswoman Kim Schrier and prior to that the Committee on Education and Labor. Payne started out as a high school social studies teacher in Eastern North Carolina through Teach for America. His first job in Washington, D.C., was at the Partnership for Public Service partnering with the Department of Education on improving their Best Places to Work and FEVS results.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education