Editor’s Note: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is to visit ESU tomorrow. He will attend a town hall meeting on campus from 2:35 to 3:15 p.m. Here is a little bit about his background:
Duncan, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Jan. 20,2009, is the ninth secretary of education since the department was re-created in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter, according to a department biography.
Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987, with a degree in sociology. He was co-captain of Harvard’s basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American.
He had been chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools from June 2001 through December 2008 before accepting the secretary of education position.
Duncan has a background in education. His father was a professor at the University of Chicago and his mother runs an independent early-learning center on Chicago’s South Side.
During his tenure in Chicago, Duncan was credited with what is described as an “aggressive education reform agenda that included opening more than 100 new schools, expanding after-school and summer learning programs, closing down under-performing schools, increasing early childhood and college access, dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers, and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.”
He also is credited with significantly raising student performance on national and state tests, increasing graduation rates and the numbers of students taking Advanced Placement courses. The school district was recognized for its efforts to bring top teaching talent into the city’s classrooms, where the number of teachers applying for positions almost tripled, the biography stated.
Before taking over the Chicago school system, Duncan had played professional basketball from 1987 to 1991 in Australia, where he also worked with children who were wards of the state. He returned to Chicago and, with his sister, created Ariel Community Academy in 1992 and ran the academy for six years.
As secretary of education, the biography stated, Duncan has helped secure congressional support for investments in education, including $100 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to finance 325,000 teaching jobs, increases in Pell grants, reform efforts such as Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation, and interventions in low-performing schools.
The biography stated Duncan had helped secure an additional $10 billion to avoid teacher layoffs; helped eliminate student loan subsidies to banks; and created a $500 million national competition for early learning programs.
Duncan has focused funds on struggling schools to help recruit new staff, adopt new teaching methods and add learning time to the school day.
“He has begun new efforts to ensure that colleges and universities provide more transparency around graduation, job placement, and student loan default rates,” the biography stated. “With the income-based repayment program introduced during Duncan’s tenure, student loan payments are being reduced for college graduates in low-paying jobs, and loans will be forgiven after 10 years for persons in certain public service occupations, such as teachers, police officers and firefighters.”
Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public school in Arlington, Va.