Different Version of the Same Duncan Story

Also from the Chronicle, but a very different tone

http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/12/8770n.htm

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Obama Praises His Education-Secretary Choice for Relying on Data to Improve Schools

By PAUL BASKEN

Washington

President-elect Barack Obama said on Tuesday he values his choice for education secretary, Arne Duncan, for his dogged determination to use data to drive his decisions about how he sought to improve the Chicago Public Schools.

“When faced with tough decisions, Arne doesn’t blink,” Mr. Obama said as he presented Mr. Duncan, the chief executive of Chicago's public-school system, as his choice to run the Education Department. “He’s not beholden to any one ideology, and he doesn’t hesitate for one minute to do what needs to be done.”

The choice met with virtually unanimous acclaim, even among Republicans and teachers'-union leaders who chafed at some of Mr. Duncan’s plans to overhaul Chicago's schools but have said they appreciated the respect he showed them in the process of finding compromise.

National higher-education leaders joined in the praise, saying they hoped Mr. Duncan’s record in Chicago of emphasizing cooperation over confrontation will also characterize his relations with colleges when he gets to Washington.

“He demonstrated effective leadership at the K-through-12 level and has a clear appreciation for, and connection to, higher education,” said William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland. “So it just seems to me that it’s a great choice.”

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