Arne Duncan aims to improve Education Sector

United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been considered as the most powerful education secretary. On Monday, during a speech at a D. C. school, Duncan said that he has an aim improve education sector by maintaining standardized tests in grades three through eight in high school.

According to No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), standardized testing was meant to be a measure to hold schools accountable. Moreover, it included development of tiered system as a measuring stick. The stick measure student performance however didn't provide a good means of holding accountable the teachers who failed to meet the standard with those underperforming students.

During the speech, he also challenged leaders of Republican Party who are making efforts to ensure key elements of the law remain intact. For example, mandatory intervention in failing schools, annual testing of students and public reporting of results.

Duncan said in the speech, "For a Republican Party that has fought hard against wasting money that has pushed for a focus on results for taxpayer dollars, turning back the clock would be truly hypocritical".

It was learnt from Duncan's speech that he is willing to work on a rewrite of the 14-year-old law with Grand Old Party (GOP). The law is the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Duncan gave green signal to the growing national movement against standardized testing. He called on Congress to plan to decide limits for students to spend on state and district standardized testing. And let the parents know if their children go beyond those limits.