Obama's education pick ready for higher-stakes test

CHICAGO —

When Arne Duncan heads to Washington, his driving task will be to rethink No Child Left Behind, the all-or-nothing law that has shaped how every child and every classroom in the country is judged.

As President-elect Obama's pick for U.S. Education Secretary, Duncan, head of Chicago Public Schools since 2001, is expected to be more flexible with an overhaul criticized for its rigidity.

Students almost surely will still have to take high-stakes tests, but Duncan and Obama have said they hope to find a more nuanced way of evaluating whether schools succeed or stumble. Classrooms nationwide could stand to gain as a result.

"He wants to make it work and hopefully see more carrot and less stick," said Jesse Ruiz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education.

Duncan, 44, has publicly lauded the high expectations and accountability of No Child Left Behind but also faulted its one-size-fits-all approach and limited funding. As Chicago schools chief, he worked to give schools some latitude in meeting the law's ever-increasing demands and challenged Congress to double federal funding.

Short on specifics Tuesday, Duncan said he plans to sit down with teachers, administrators and business leaders across the country before he decides the law's future. An academic leader with a reputation for drawing talented people with competing views to the table in Chicago, Duncan said he plans to do the same on the national stage.

"The ideas behind (the law) make a lot of sense. You want to look hard at the data," he said.

Test scores, dropout rates

Obama formally named Duncan, his basketball buddy and fellow Harvard alumnus, as his pick for education secretary at a news conference at Dodge Renaissance Academy on the West Side, highlighting a school that closed, reorganized, opened anew and improved its academic standing under Duncan's stewardship. Obama complimented Duncan's practical approach to education overhaul.

"For Arne, school reform isn't just a theory in a book. It's the cause of his life," Obama said.

Neither Obama nor Duncan uttered the words "No Child Left Behind" during their news conference. Nevertheless, experts cite as their primary task the pending overhaul of the law, a 2002 Bush initiative that aimed to have all children read and do math at grade level by 2014. The law's renewal is a year overdue as Congress awaited the new administration.

Nationwide, while students have made progress, more than one in four still score below basic on eighth-grade math and reading tests. The news is worse among black and Hispanic children, nearly half of whom score below basic on the same tests.

Dropout rates are dismal, too: One in four students quits high school. Among black and Hispanic kids, one in three drops out.

Duncan, whose nomination requires Senate confirmation, will bring to the task a decade of experience in various capacities in Chicago schools, the nation's third-largest system. His efforts to restructure struggling schools, experiment with incentive pay for teachers in high-poverty schools and reward students with money for grades earned him critics and champions alike.

With him at the helm of the 408,000-student system, test scores improved, participation in Advanced Placement classes rose and graduation rates edged up. However, the trade publication Education Week this year reported that the city's on-time graduation rate was 51 percent for the Class of 2005, ranking it behind most of the nation's 50 largest school systems.

"While there are no simple answers, I know from experience that when you focus on basics like reading and math, and when you embrace innovative new approaches and when you create a professional climate to attract great teachers, you can create great schools," Duncan said Tuesday.

Under his leadership, charter schools were expanded and a performance-pay plan was launched with the blessing of teachers. He supports a program to bring people into teaching who have little classroom experience but strong academic backgrounds. In 2006, he called on Congress to double funding for the No Child Left Behind law.

Fans, critics speak up

Duncan's résumé appeals to some who identify themselves as reformers, but his calls for increased funding and willingness to partner with teachers also wins the approval of unions and school officials who think the federal government imposes too many sanctions without offering enough support.

"Duncan is someone we believe can work with everyone, and that's going to be an important part of setting a new tone to get things done in the new administration, instead of treading water," said Joe Williams, executive director the New York-based Democrats for Education Reform.

Duncan is also widely viewed as a creative policymaker. He backed a proposal in October, for instance, for a high school touted as a haven for gay and bullied youngsters. Backers later pulled their proposal, saying they wanted to spend another year to finalize their plans.

Not everyone is a fan. Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart offered a lukewarm endorsement. She credited Duncan with getting more money for public education but sparred with him over school closings and restructuring that the union said cost more than 2,000 teachers and support personnel.

Daniel Boone Elementary teacher Wade Tillett, also a district parent, plans to protest Duncan's appointment Wednesday in Federal Plaza. "He spent a lot of time using (No Child Left Behind) and test scores to close down quite a few public schools and turn them over to charters," Tillett said.

Beyond K-12 schools, Obama has a sweeping education plan, although the economic meltdown makes his $18 billion prekindergarten program, or any increase in education spending, unlikely anytime soon.

Later Tuesday, when Obama, Duncan and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden visited the library at Dodge Renaissance Academy, Obama made the case for longer school days to a group of worried students.

"You're trying to figure out if you're going to be in school longer," he told the children. "Well, let me tell you, kids in a lot of other countries go to school more than kids here in the United States," he said, adding that he hasn't made any decisions. "The longer you're here, the smarter you get."

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.