U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will make announcements about two education reform efforts at events in New York City on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. First, he will appear on the MSNBC morning television show Morning Joe to announce the private-sector launch of the TEACH campaign, formerly housed at the Department. TEACH is a public-private partnership focused on recruiting and retaining top talent in the teaching profession and elevating the status of teaching as a competitive and prestigious career choice. For more information, visit the TEACH website at TEACH.org.
Later in the afternoon, at 3:25 p.m., he will visit West Caldwell Tech in West Caldwell, N.J. to announce the release of data about School Improvement Grants (SIG). This year’s data set shows encouraging trends and will outline the progress that cohorts of SIG schools have made in their first year or two. SIG awards are made to state educational agencies that then make competitive sub grants to school districts that demonstrate the greatest need for the funds and the strongest commitment to use them to substantially raise student achievement in their lowest-performing schools. Under the Obama Administration, the SIG program has invested up to $2 million per school at more than 1,300 of the country's lowest-performing schools. The visit to West Caldwell Tech is part of the Secretary’s Partners in Progress tour to see America’s ingenuity in education at work and discuss progress, promise and results.
Secretary Duncan will also speak at the Committee for Economic Development’s Fall Policy Conference and Annual Meeting at noon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. He will discuss high standards and their value for American competitiveness, the importance of early learning and giving every child a strong start and the urgency of making college affordable for the middle class.