On February 5, Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderated a panel hosted by the National Council for the Social Studies as a part of their annual conference. The panel featured three former U.S. Secretaries of Education: Rod Paige (2001 – 2005), Arne Duncan (2009 – 2015), and John B. King, Jr. (2016 – 2017). They share stories of the teachers who shaped them, perspectives on teaching history honestly, and reflections on public education's contributions to democracy.
Many thanks to the National Council for the Social Studies for providing the audio for Live at the National Constitution Center listeners.
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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell and the education team at the National Constitution Center, led by Kerry Sautner.
Participants
John B. King, Jr. is president of The Education Trust, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to identify and close educational opportunity and achievement gaps. King served as U.S. Secretary of Education in the Obama administration, from 2016-2017. Prior to that role, King carried out the duties of Deputy Secretary, overseeing policies and programs related to P-12 education, English learners, special education, innovation, and agency operations. King joined the department following his post as New York State Education Commissioner. King began his career as a high school social studies teacher and middle school principal.
Arne Duncan is a managing partner at Emerson Collective, an organization dedicated to removing barriers so people can live to their full potential. Duncan served as U.S. Secretary of Education from 2009-2015. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Duncan served as chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools. From 2001 to 2008, Duncan won praise for uniting the city’s stakeholders behind an education agenda that included opening 100 new schools; expanding after-school, summer learning, early childhood, and college access programs; dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers; and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.
Rod Paige served as U.S. Secretary of Education from 2001-2005, in the first George W. Bush administration. A member of the Presidential Cabinet, Paige spearheaded the implementation of the historic No Child Left Behind Act, with the goal of reinvigorating America’s education system. Before that, he was Dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University, and then Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, then the nation's seventh largest district. Following his time as Secretary of Education, Paige served as a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2006 he authored The War Against Hope and in 2010 published The Black-White Achievement Gap: Why Closing it is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue of Our Time.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
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