President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Miguel Cardona, the education commissioner for Connecticut and a former public school teacher, to serve as education secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardona was appointed to the top education post in Connecticut just months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March. When schools moved to remote learning, he hurried to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the state. Since then, however, he has increasingly pressed schools to reopen, saying it\u2019s harmful to keep students at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If confirmed, his first task will be to expand that effort across the nation. Biden has pledged to have a majority of U.S. schools reopened by the end of his first 100 days in office. Biden is promising new federal guidelines on school opening decisions, and a \u201clarge-scale\u201d Education Department effort to identify and share the best ways to teach during a pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s choice of Cardona, yet to be announced, was confirmed by three people familiar with his decision but not authorized to discuss it publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardona, 45, was raised in a housing project in Meriden, Connecticut, and went through the city\u2019s public schools before returning to work as a fourth-grade teacher in the district in 1998. At age 28 he had become the youngest principal in the state before working his way up to assistant superintendent of the district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an educator, he has devoted his work to improving education for English-language learners and closing achievement gaps between students of color and their white classmates. Both issues have been perennial struggles in Connecticut, which for decades has had among the widest achievement gaps in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardona\u2019s doctoral dissertation at the University of Connecticut examined how to boost the \u201cpolitical will\u201d to close gaps between student who are learning English and their peers. It\u2019s a personal issue for Cardona, who has said he entered kindergarten only speaking Spanish and struggled to learn English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was chosen to help lead a 2011 state task force that studied how to close learning gaps in Connecticut and issued dozens of recommendations. In an update on the work in February, Cardona said the state\u2019s gaps have been closing but not quickly enough. At the current rate of progress, he said, it would take until 2060 to erase disparities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pandemic has only heightened his concerns about education inequity. In a September video message to special education teachers, he said the pandemic has \u201cfurther exacerbated gaps in achievement. You are the lieutenants in that battle to close those gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those concerns drove his work with Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont to provide computers and wireless internet devices to students across the state. In December, Connecticut said it had become the first state to distribute laptops to every student who needed one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that isn\u2019t enough, Cardona has said. He recently drew attention to new state data showing that students who are learning online have missed twice as many days of class as those attending school in-person. The data also showed that students with high needs, including those learning English, are far more likely to be considered chronically absent this school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the summer, when schools were crafting plans to reopen, Cardona urged all schools to provide in-person instruction to all students. Recent state data show that few students learned entirely in-person in October and November. But even as virus cases climbed in the fall, Cardona pushed more schools to reopen, saying there was no evidence of transmission in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur position has always been when you can get students into the classroom, that\u2019s the best option,\u201d Cardona told state lawmakers in October. \u201cThere is no replacement for that experience in the classroom with a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His position has sometimes put him at odds with teachers unions, which have called for school buildings to be closed until safety measures are met, and also with some parents who say schools should be ordered to open. Cardona has sought to balance their interests by pressing for reopening without mandating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite their occasional conflict with him, a coalition of Connecticut education unions previously supported his candidacy as Biden\u2019s education secretary. In a Dec. 18 statement, the coalition said Cardona has been tested by the pandemic and \u201cwould be a positive force for public education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile this challenge has been a rocky road \u2014 and many issues remain unresolved \u2014 teachers and school support staff have appreciated his openness and collaboration,\u201d the group wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardona was also backed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has pressed Biden to appoint more Latinos to Cabinet positions. In a letter to Biden this month, the group cited Cardona\u2019s accomplishments and said he \u201cfully grasps the challenges that English as Second Language (ESL) Learners, Latinos, and other minority students face in America\u2019s classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the pandemic, Biden\u2019s education secretary will also be tasked with reversing an array of policies established by Secretary Betsy DeVos. Throughout his campaign, Biden depicted DeVos as an enemy of public schools and vowed to install an education chief with experience working in public schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He vowed to revoke Trump administration policies including DeVos\u2019 recent rules on the handling of campus sexual assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s education plans also include measures that align with Cardona\u2019s interests. The Democrat has pledged to triple federal Title I funding for the neediest schools to ensure that \u201cno child\u2019s future is determined by their zip code, parents\u2019 income, race or disability.\u201d Biden is also proposing free preschool and policies meant to make the nation\u2019s schools and teaching force more diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December, Connecticut said it had become the first state requiring high schools to provide courses on Black and Latino studies. Cardona praised the measure, saying that \u201cidentities matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact is that more inclusive, culturally relevant content in classrooms leads to greater student engagement and better outcomes for all,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardona and his wife, Marissa P\u00e9rez Cardona, have two children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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