Dive Brief:
- New York Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. is set to become U.S. Secretary of Education's top adviser.
- King will leave his post in New York at the end of the year.
- As education commissioner, King oversaw the implementation of Common Core State Standards, maintaining strong support for them even as teachers and parents blamed him for significant drops in standardized test scores.
Dive Insight:
New York was among the first states to adopt Common Core-aligned testing, and many educators and parents, especially after the first round of results came back, felt there hadn't been enough time for students and teachers to adjust. As The New York Times reports, King also oversaw the introduction of test-based teacher evaluations in the state. In the time since, the number of teachers certified in New York has fallen 20%. Some would argue, however, that those no longer certified are the teachers the evaluations were meant to weed out in the first place.
That said, it's no surprise that King, also a former charter school leader, would be selected for the second-highest-ranking position under Duncan, as his interests and initiatives in education line up nicely with those of the Obama administration.
