secretary of education

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Education Pick Is Former Public-School Teacher

Connecticut's Miguel Cardona will get the Cabinet position

(Newser) - President-elect Biden has chosen Miguel Cardona, the education commissioner for Connecticut and a former public-school teacher, to serve as education secretary, per the AP . Cardona was appointed to the top education post in Connecticut just months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March. When schools moved to remote learning,...

DeVos Has One Word for Education Department Staff

Politico says it has the recording

(Newser) - Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reportedly has one word for the thousands of career employees who will remain with the department during the transition to a Joe Biden administration: "Resist." DeVos gave the directive during a department-wide virtual meeting on Tuesday, Politico reports, citing an unpublished audio recording. "...

DeVos Grilled on Plan to Yank Special Olympics Funds

Education secretary says 'we had to make some difficult decisions' for the next budget

(Newser) - By her own words, Betsy DeVos thinks the Special Olympics is "an awesome organization"—just not one that should be funded by the federal government. The secretary of education appeared before a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday to try to explain nearly $7 billion in suggested cuts to education...

DeVos' 60 Minutes Interview Is Not Going Over Well

Critics pile on education secretary, and she says her views are misunderstood

(Newser) - Education secretary Betsy DeVos appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday night, and she's taking much criticism Monday over her answers to questions from Leslie Stahl. In the intro—you can read the interview and see the video via this CBS News link—Stahl notes that DeVos "is dedicated to...

Senators Kick Off All-Night Debate to Stop DeVos

Mike Pence could end up casting historic vote

(Newser) - Democratic senators are kicking off an all-night debate in a final effort to prevent the confirmation of the woman Charles Schumer says is the "least qualified" of President Trump's nominees. The Senate is set to vote on the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary at noon Tuesday,...

Teacher Raises $60K to 'Buy' Senator's Vote on DeVos

Katherine Fritz says she's 'using satire' to make a point

(Newser) - When her repeated calls failed to convince Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania to vote against Betsy DeVos as secretary of Education when the vote is held Monday, Katherine Fritz decided to "buy" his vote instead. Aware that DeVos has donated about $55,800 to the Republican's campaign, the...

2 GOP Senators Voting Against DeVos, Which Could Mean a Tie

Mike Pence would then be the tie-breaker

(Newser) - Betsy DeVos' confirmation vote in the Senate Wednesday will be tight: Two Republican senators announced Wednesday that they will oppose DeVos' nomination to be secretary of Education. Assuming all of the Senate's 48 Democrats also oppose DeVos, that means she'd have 50 yes votes and 50 no votes...

Trump Names His Secretary of Education

And confirms Gov. Nikki Haley as ambassador to UN

(Newser) - President-elect Donald Trump has chosen prominent charter school advocate Betsy DeVos as his secretary of education, the AP reports. It's also been confirmed that Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will serve as US ambassador to the UN . Together, they are the first women selected for top-level administration posts in Trump'...

Education Chief to Schools: Stop Hitting Kids

John King says corporal punishment is 'harmful,' 'ineffective'

(Newser) - Education Secretary John King has a message for states where physical discipline is permitted in schools, per USA Today : Quit it. In a letter to governors and state school chiefs, King says 22 states—mostly in the South and West—still allow corporal punishment or don't forbid it. He...

Arne Duncan Stepping Down as Education Secretary

And the president doesn't plan to officially nominate a replacement

(Newser) - At the end of the year, Arne Duncan is stepping down as Education Secretary after seven years. According to a letter to staff that was obtained by the AP and confirmed by a White House official, Duncan is going back to Chicago to be with his family. Duncan, 50, has...

Thomas Friedman's Unusual Pick for Secretary of State

He thinks education chief Arne Duncan should replace Hillary

(Newser) - The top contenders to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state look to be John Kerry and Susan Rice. But if Thomas Friedman had his way, President Obama would shift education secretary Arne Duncan into Clinton's job. Yes, Friedman knows the chances of that happening are just about non-existent,...

'No Child Left Behind' Needs a Bipartisan Facelift
'No Child Left Behind'
Needs a Bipartisan Facelift
ARNE DUNCAN
Jan 3, 2011 3:33 PM CST

'No Child Left Behind' Needs a Bipartisan Facelift

There's a lot that both parties agree on in education reform

(Newser) - The new Congress is set to update No Child Left Behind, and it’s a chance to get both sides of the aisle behind real change, writes Arne Duncan in the Washington Post . Both parties share similar concerns about NCLB—its way of labeling schools “failures,” its bubble...

Katrina Benefited New Orleans Schools: Ed Secretary

'Education system was a disaster' before hurricane, Arne Duncan says

(Newser) - By forcing the city to start rebuilding its schools from scratch, Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans," the secretary of education says in a TV interview set to air next week. "That education system was a disaster, and...

Chicago Schools Lag Gains Claimed by Duncan

Test scores in ed secretary's former district trail other cities

(Newser) - In the latest test results, Chicago schools failed to show evidence of the gains claimed by their former superintendent, Arne Duncan, whose success in turning around the struggling system was widely touted when he was nominated for education secretary. Students in Miami, Houston, and New York outscored Chicago in math;...

Duncan Poised to Be Most Powerful Ed Sec Ever

Tight with prez, Duncan holds keys to $5B in stimulus funds

(Newser) - Tight with President Obama and with $5 billion at his disposal, Arne Duncan may become the strongest education secretary in history, writes Nia-Malika Henderson for Politico. “Never ever have they had $5 billion to decide what to do in the education system,” says an education advocate. And it’...

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