Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator who served as United States Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Duncan is the founder of Create Real Economic Destiny (CRED), a non-profit aimed at reducing gun violence.
During Duncan's tenure as Secretary of Education, he was a key figure in the Obama administration's development of Common Core, a set of nationwide educational standards. This made him a controversial figure among those who opposed the federal government's taking on a stronger role in education policy.
In March 2017, Arne Duncan was appointed senior fellow at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and a board member for Communities In Schools and Community X.
Early life
Duncan was raised in Hyde Park, a Chicago neighborhood encompassing the University of Chicago. He is the son of Susan Goodrich (née Morton) and Starkey Davis Duncan Jr. His father was a psychology professor at the university and his mother runs the Sue Duncan Children's Center, an after-school program primarily serving African-American youth in the nearby Kenwood neighborhood.
Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and later Harvard College, where he played on the basketball team and graduated magna cum laude in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. His senior thesis, for which he took a year's leave to do research in the Kenwood neighborhood, was entitled "The values, aspirations and opportunities of the urban underclass".
Basketball
While at Harvard, Duncan co-captained the varsity basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American. From 1988 through 1991, Duncan played professional basketball, mostly in Australia, with teams including Melbourne's Eastside Spectres, of Australia's National Basketball League. Duncan also participated in the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Games. Comedian Kevin Hart conceded the 2014 MVP of the celebrity game to Duncan (20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists).
On May 11, 2014, Duncan was a member of the 2014 USA Basketball 3x3 Men's Championship Team. The team of Duncan, Jitim Young, Thomas Darrow and Craig Moore qualified to represent the United States in Moscow, Russia in the 24-country 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championship from June 5–8. Duncan's schedule did not permit him to attend, but the team finished in 9th place in the 24-team tournament.
Career
After graduating, Duncan played professional basketball for several years until 1991. In 1992, childhood friend and investment banker John W. Rogers, Jr., appointed Duncan director of the Ariel Education Initiative, a program mentoring children at one of the city's worst-performing elementary schools and then assisting them as they proceeded further in the education system. After the school closed in 1996, Duncan and Rogers were instrumental in re-opening it as a charter school, Ariel Community Academy. In 1999, Duncan was appointed deputy chief of staff to Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.
CEO of Chicago Public Schools
Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Ryan Duncan(his son) to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools on June 26, 2001. As CEO, Duncan was in charge of the implementation of the Renaissance 2010 initiative and served as the public spokesman for it.
Opinions vary on Duncan's success as CEO. In 2009, Kathleen Kingsbury of Time noted improved test scores and described Duncan as a consensus builder. Jitu Brown, Rico Gustein, and Pauline Lipman wrote a 2009 article published by Rethinking Education which argued that notion of improvements having been made to the school system were largely a myth, and which expressed concern over the closure of neighborhood schools and their replacement by charter schools, and what they described as schools' militarization.
U.S. Secretary of Education
Duncan was appointed U.S. Secretary of Education by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2009. One of Duncan's initiatives as secretary has been a $4 billion Race to the Top competition. It asks states to vie for federal education dollars by submitting proposals that include reforms such as expanding charter schools and judging teachers partly on how well their students do on standardized tests.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin condemned the Bush-Kennedy charter schools for Washington, D.C., and Duncan and Obama got the vouchers eliminated. Speaker of the House John Boehner had them restored.