U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will give remarks at the 2012 Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Legislative Conference at 11 a.m. Monday, March 26, in Washington, D.C. He will discuss No Child Left Behind waivers, Race to the Top $4 billion grant program and other parts of the Obama Administration’s school reform agenda. A question-and-answer session will follow.
The Department’s Jacqueline Jones, deputy assistant secretary for early learning and policy, will moderate a panel discussion at 3:30 p.m. It will highlight the state chiefs’ efforts to strengthen early learning programs and ensure that early learning is an integral part of their public education systems. Jones will give opening remarks outlining early learning reform efforts on key reform areas, by state, in the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. A question-and-answer session will follow the panel discussion.
CCSSO is a nationwide, nonpartisan and nonprofit membership organization of state superintendents of education. The organization is committed to reforming the public education system in four strategic areas: Educator Workforce; Information Systems and Research; Next Generation Learners; and Standards, Assessment, and Accountability.