More Resources Paige Announces Formation of Two New Offices

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced the appointment of Nina Shokraii Rees, deputy assistant to the vice president for domestic policy, to serve as deputy undersecretary in charge of the new Office of Innovation and Improvement.

Rees' office is intended to be a nimble, entrepreneurial arm of the Education Department, making strategic investments in promising practices and widely disseminating their results. It will also lead the movement for greater parental options and information in education.

Before joining the White House, Rees served as an education advisor to the Bush presidential campaign, a senior education analyst at the Heritage Foundation and director of outreach at the Institute for Justice.

"Nina Rees has been a valuable player in our efforts to promote education reform and assure that we leave no child behind," Secretary Paige said.  "We look forward to her joining our team as we launch this important endeavor."

At the White House, Rees has served as an advisor to the vice president on education, crime, homeownership, race, welfare, and other issues affecting families and children.

Paige said the Office of Innovation and Improvement will consolidate programs related to parental options and education, including those for charter schools, magnet schools, public school choice, non-public education and family educational rights. 

It will also coordinate with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education the public school choice and supplemental services provisions of the new No Child left Behind Act.

Under that landmark act, parents play a crucial role in school improvement.  Greater parental options are supported by the law, including expanded public school choice, charter schools, supplemental educational services and services for children in private schools.

The Office of Innovation and Improvement will also house many of the department's discretionary programs, such as transition to teaching and teaching American history.

"Like today's best entrepreneurial foundations, this office will support promising programs and -- working with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement -- rigorously evaluate their results," Paige said.

"This office will become the department's expert in leveraging competitive grant programs for maximum learning and maximum impact and will aggressively disseminate findings about what works to the educational field," he said.

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