Washington, D.C. — “We are delighted that President-elect Biden is nominating Dr. Miguel Cardona to be Secretary of Education. As a former teacher and principal, Dr. Cardona is a champion for public schools and has worked to ensure all students, particularly historically underserved students, get what they need to thrive. He also will serve as an inspiration to Latino students—particularly the 5 million students who are English learners like Dr. Cardona was—seeing someone who looks like them in the Secretary’s office. I look forward to working with Dr. Cardona to tackle long-standing inequities in education that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic for our most vulnerable students. We know that students—particularly students of color and those in poverty—who were already behind in school when the pandemic began have lost even more ground this year. Sadly, we also know that fewer students are pursuing a college education because of the uncertainty of this year. As with many educators and families across our country, we look forward to hearing from the Secretary about plans to address these issues and provide immediate relief to schools and families, including passing key legislation to ensure every family has access to high-speed home internet and devices for virtual learning. We will support focused plans giving school districts the necessary resources to address learning loss and accelerate students’ academic progress and attend to their social and emotional needs. After four years of active dismantling of public education, our country needs swift actions from the Biden administration on policies that ensure every student—no matter his or her race, religion, background, or ZIP code—will thrive. America’s youth deserve nothing less.”
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Deborah S. Delisle is the president and CEO of the Alliance for Excellent Education and served as Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education from 2012 to 2015.
The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC–based national policy, practice, and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those traditionally underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, a career, and citizenship. all4ed.org