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Clinton garners accolades, faces few tough questions |
Education secretary-designate hedges on NCLB
Arne Duncan, President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Education, earned praise from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and appears to be on a path to a quick confirmation.
Duncan emphasized investing heavily in early education and teacher retention as a means to improve graduation rates at the high school and college level. He endorsed using merit pay to increase salaries for teachers — a proposal opposed by the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union.
He did not take a clear stand on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), President Bush’s signature education law, signed in 2002, that set new standards for public schools and is up for reauthorization during this Congress.
He simply echoed Obama’s call “that we should neither bury NCLB nor praise it without reservation.”
“There is no question that schools across America can benefit from the same kind of fresh thinking that you have brought to Chicago public schools. As you know very well, perhaps our greatest educational challenge is to improve the performance of urban and public schools serving high-poverty communities,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chaired the hearing in place of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
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