Obama Taps Arne Duncan For Education Post

Cabinet Nominee Currently Runs Chicago's School System

(CBS/ AP)  President-elect Barack Obama announced Arne Duncan, the head of the Chicago school system, as education secretary Tuesday and said failing to improve classroom instruction is "morally unacceptable for our children."

"When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners," Mr. Obama said at a news conference in a school that he said has made remarkable progress under Duncan's leadership.

"He's not beholden to any one ideology, and he's worked tirelessly to improve teacher quality," Mr. Obama said.

Duncan stood nearby, the latest member to be named to the Cabinet of the president-elect. His appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.

Mr. Obama spoke of Duncan in glowing terms.

"In just seven years, he's boosted elementary test scores here in Chicago from 38 percent of students meeting the standards to 67 percent. The dropout rate has gone down every year he's been in charge."

On a key standardized test, Mr. Obama said, "the gains of Chicago students have been twice as big as those for students in the rest of the state."

A hometown is not the only thing Mr. Obama and Duncan have in common, CBS News' Marc Ambinder notes. The presumed appointee once played his future boss' favorite sport, professional basketball, in Australia.

A 44-year-old Harvard graduate, Duncan has played pickup basketball with Mr. Obama since the 1990s. Duncan co-captained the Harvard basketball team.

Duncan would take over a sprawling department that has focused during the Bush administration in winning passage and then implementing the president's signature No Child Left Behind education program.

That effort has proven controversial, with supporters saying it is making progress in improving student skills, while local officials complain it focuses too much attention on standardized tests.

Mr. Obama said it was time for Washington to move beyond "tired debates" such as whether to approve the use of vouchers for students to attend private schools.

"We cannot continue on like this. It is morally unacceptable for our children and economically untenable for America," said the president-elect.

Duncan has run the country's third-biggest school district since 2001, pushing to boost teacher quality and to improve struggling schools and closing those that fail.

The news conference took place at the Dodge Renaissance Academy on Chicago's West Side, a facility that Duncan shut down and then reopened. Mr. Obama and Duncan visited the school together in 2005.

Duncan ran a nonprofit education organization on Chicago's South Side before going to work in Chicago schools under former superintendent Paul Vallas, now the New Orleans schools chief.

Duncan's nomination will please reform advocates who wanted a big-city schools chief who has sought to hold schools and teachers accountable for student performance; they had backed Duncan or New York's Joel Klein.

These advocates have squared off against teachers' unions in a contentious debate among Democrats over whom Mr. Obama should choose. Unions, an influential segment of the party base, wanted a strong advocate for their members such as Obama adviser Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor.

Yet Duncan's nomination may please the unions, who have said Duncan seems willing to work with them.

"Arne Duncan actually reaches out and tries to do things in a collaborative way," Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, said in an interview earlier this month.

Mr. Obama managed during his campaign to avoid taking sides in the debate, which centers on accountability and the fate of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind law. Duncan also has tried to appeal to both factions; he signed competing manifestos from each side earlier this year.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which must confirm the education nominee, called Duncan a consensus candidate.

"Arne has been a pragmatic and effective leader of Chicago's schools," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a written statement. "He's brought people together to address difficult challenges and expand opportunities so that every child can succeed."

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., called Duncan "a very good choice for school reform and our schoolchildren."

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[specialty8]

Rowdy,
Get off Oprah,every since the choosen one promised all of the free things I lay back on the couch,Watch Oprah and I am still waiting for my Obama bucks.It should be here Jan 21.Meanwhile I have ordered some of those cool Obama coins off TV and the Obama Christmas cards to send to all my friends who are also waiting for their Obama bucks to. Obama is the choosen one, how else could all of this happen?

[irmcvet971]

Yet the Chicago schools systems are in a state of disarray. I sincerely hope this works out because the US educational system is severely lacking in guidance and controls.

Posted by BailThisOut at 09:24 AM : Dec 17, 2008

It isn''t unusual to see FASCIST LIE is it! Have you people NO concern, NO honor at all? LOOK around you!

[irmcvet971]

"libsRcrooks" must have his underpants stuck halfway up his AZZ. It''''s affecting his mental abilities. This seems to happen to conservatives a lot. Take Ronny Reagan for example. We were told it was Alzheimers, it was underpants that crept up too far.

Posted by ConservativesEatTofu

Posted by raflin0010 at 09:04 AM : Dec 17, 2008

I would agree with you except I really don''t know if he has much left to effect. I guess they aren''t happy with the destruction they have brought the nation to this point and want to give us MORE! I can see the small minded loser in the corner of his trailer, rubbing his Confederate Flag Pin as we speak!

[irmcvet971]

Great Pick! He''s young and will not be beholding to people who want to see the system fail instead of fixing it.

[bailthisout]

President-elect Barack Obama announced Arne Duncan, the head of the Chicago school system, as education secretary Tuesday and said failing to improve classroom instruction is "morally unacceptable for our children."
------------
Yet the Chicago schools systems are in a state of disarray. I sincerely hope this works out because the US educational system is severely lacking in guidance and controls.

[wardoglrs]

The arrest of financier Bernard Madoff Thursday for operating a "Ponzi scheme" costing investors $50 billion made the TV network news. Curiously, a lawsuit the same day against Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for defrauding Citibank shareholders of more than $122 billion, also described as a "Ponzi scheme," got no airplay whatsoever.

As we shall see, Rubin, a Director of Citibank, profited from the shady practices that destroyed the financial system and sent the world''s economies into a tailspin. Then, to repair the damage, he and his banker friends put the taxpayer on the hook for trillions.

Rubin didn''t get the same publicity as Madoff because of his close connection to Barack Obama.

[wardoglrs]

What doesn''t work is Repub''s & Dem''s when will you people see this they lied to you they stole your money and you still support them.... What a joke you are America

[erb0087]

"A 44-year-old Harvard graduate, Duncan has played pickup basketball with Mr. Obama since the 1990s. Duncan co-captained the Harvard basketball team."

But can he dunk ?

[erb0087]

"If he can run a department like HE wants?Good luck on that one. This guy has never ran a car wash.Just ask Hillary and Joe Bidden."
Posted by specialty8 at 03:59 PM : Dec 16, 2008

They''ll be easy to find. They''re both working for him now.

If I want my car cleaned I''ll go talk to the carwash manager.

That''s been the trouble the last 8 years. We''ve had a President with the brains of a carwash manager.

It''s time for greatness in the Presidency.