Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in Chicago, where he was chief of public schools, on Nov. 13, 2008. (AP)

Post your comments below

The U.S. secretary of education always has a big bully pulpit. President Barack Obama’s brand new secretary of education, Chicago’s Arne Duncan, has a big bully pulpit plus a huge pile of stimulus money — one hundred billion dollars — to shake up American education.

That’s historic. Today we’ll talk with the Secretary Duncan about his plans for America’s schools. About testing and charter schools, teachers unions and No Child Left Behind. About how he hopes to make American education competitive again.

This hour, On Point: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

You can join the conversation. What’s your question for Secretary Duncan, America’s education man of the hour?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

Arne Duncan joins us from Washington. He was confirmed as Secretary of Education on Jan. 20, 2009. Prior to his appointment, he served for seven years as the chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools.

More links:

The New York Times has a good summary of the historic moment in which Secretary Duncan arrives. For a tough critique of President Obama and Secretary Duncan, see the Schools Matter blog. And The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece on the D.C. voucher controversy and how it frames big choices for the new administration.

Jay Mathews, education columnist for The Washington Post, offers an up-close account of school reform in his new book, “Work hard. Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America.” He joined us last year for our ‘08 campaign hour on the education issue.

Computer class at Trinity Catholic Academy in Brockton, MA. (Photo:AP)

How to improve under-achieving schools in America’s poorest communities has vexed policy makers for generations. President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law insists on accountability. But critics charge it encourages teaching to the test at the expense of real learning.

The law still sparks a loud argument — but as one of our guests today writes in the current issue of Harper’s magazine, there’s debate that test-prep companies such as Kaplan are profiting handsomely from the federal mandate to test, and test, and test again.

Up next, On Point: Moving beyond the tyranny of the test to school reform that actually works.

-Anthony Brooks, guest host

Guests:

Jeremy Miller, a high school science teacher in Denver. His article “Tyranny of the Test: One year as a Kaplan coach in the public school” appears in the September issue of Harper’s.

Seppy Basili, senior vice president of Learning and Assessment at Kaplan, a $2 billion company that prepares students for standardized tests.

Sara Mead, senior research fellow in the Education Policy Program and Workforce and Family Program at the New America Foundation, where she also writes for the Early Ed Watch blog.

Jordan Meranus, partner at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm that makes investments in organizations serving K-12 public education.