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What Works in Public Education

Secretarial Pool: A Role Defined

by Geoffrey James

Each executive branch has its archetypical office-holder. Secretaries of state tend to be diplomats; secretaries of defense spin round the revolving door between the Department of Defense and the military-industrial complex. Secretaries of education are often midrange politicians parked between career moves. Some have made changes to public schools that still reverberate today, while others are best known for their outside-the-office antics. Here’s the scorecard.

This article was also published in the November 2004 issue of Edutopia magazine.