Duncan Talks Race to the Top, Georgia Milestones
First Lady Michelle Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan stopped by Atlanta’s Booker T. Washington High School Monday. The Education Department kicked off its annual Back to School Bus Tour. After talking to students about planning for college, Duncan spoke about some other issues Georgia schools are facing.
Hear the broadcast version of this story.
One of the biggest initiatives Duncan has overseen in his tenure is the federal Race to the Top grant. Georgia won $400 million through the program in 2010. The state has used some of the money to develop a new teacher evaluation system. But officials had trouble sticking with the implementation timeline. Still, Duncan said he’s encouraged by Georgia’s efforts.
“I think the state has worked really, really hard and I’m proud of the efforts,” Duncan said. “We’re proud to be a good partner and to invest, but all of the good work is being done by great teachers and principals here around the state.”
Georgia’s Race to the Top grant ends this month.
Students, however, will take new tests this year. Georgia Milestones aligns to the Common Core education standards and will replace a national test the state planned to adopt. Duncan didn’t weigh in on the move, saying he trusts state education officials.
“We think the appropriate role at the federal level is to ask folks to have high standards, to have a high bar, to make sure young people aren’t graduating from high school and then taking remedial classes in college,” he said. “We need to have high standards as a nation, and then how that gets assessed is best determined, not by me or frankly anyone else in Washington, that’s best determined at the local level.”
After Washington High, Duncan’s bus tour headed to Carrollton, GA. Then it’s on to Alabama and Tennessee.
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