Afternoon announcements: Arne Duncan is in for the “long haul”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that he plans to serve in the Obama Administration for the “long haul.” He’s beginning to map out his goals for the next four years – including improving teacher quality and keeping the status quo and improving his initiatives from the first four years. Education Week

The Common Core State Standards are proving to work, at least in a Chicago public school testing site. The Philip D. Armour Elementary School primarily serves low-income students from high-crime neighborhoods, has seen standardized test scores increase by 16 points. Huffington Post

The philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $25 million in grants to seven cities to increase collaboration between charter and public schools. The cities are Boston, Denver, Hartford, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Spring Branch, Texas. New York Times

The new Common Core standards emphasize non-fiction texts over literature in English classrooms. So what will students be reading? Here’s a list. Washington Post

There are unfilled jobs all over the nation and high unemployment. How is that possible? There is a large skills gap that needs to be fixed. In New York. Education and business leaders are thinking of a solution. Wall Street Journal