Speeches

The Early Learning Challenge: Raising the Bar

Thank you for that kind introduction. It is a special pleasure and opportunity for me to meet and speak with so many early childhood educators, advocates, and researchers. More than a half century ago, Franklin Roosevelt said that the "destiny of American youth is the destiny of America." Each and every day you help to fulfill that destiny.

The Promise of Promise Neighborhoods: Beyond Good Intentions

Thank you so much for the generous introduction. It's a pleasure and honor to be addressing this conference of the Harlem Children's Zone. HCZ, and its founder and extraordinary leader, Geoff Canada, have produced one of the most remarkable anti-poverty community programs in the nation's history.

Economic Security and a 21st Century Education

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to discuss the state of American education—which in some ways is one and the same with the American economy.

I believe that the quality of our education system says as much about the long-term health of our economy as the stock market, the unemployment rate and the size of the gross domestic product.

Under Secretary Martha Kanter’s Remarks to the New England Board of Education

I am thrilled to be here to speak to the New England Board of Higher Education. Most of you here today share my priorities and I believe that together we will be able to meet the many challenges we face in today’s economy.

First, I would like to start with the story of how I got my present job at the U.S. Department of Education.

Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

Good Morning. Thank you for inviting me here today. It is an honor to sit here in this room with our nation's leading scientists and engineers. You're the experts in your field, the people the president trusts to build an agenda for science and technology and to advise him, me, and my colleagues in the Cabinet.

Teacher Preparation: Reforming the Uncertain Profession

It's an honor and pleasure to be here at Columbia Teachers College—the oldest, largest, and most storied graduate school of education in the United States. Here in this citadel of teacher preparation, where giants like John Dewey played such a formative role, I've come to speak to you today about the need for a sea-change in our schools of education.

Partners for Success

It's my pleasure to be here today. Thank you for rescheduling my speech. As you know, when the president calls and asks you to be with him on an important trip, you go.

A Call to Teaching

It is a great honor and thrill to be here speaking to you today at the University of Virginia, at the university that Thomas Jefferson founded and in the famous Rotunda that Jefferson designed.

Make No Small Plans

Thank you, Terry, for that kind introduction. I've known Terry for years—and the work of the Chicago Community Trust was absolutely invaluable to me during my time as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

Building Safe and Healthy Communities

In recent weeks America has seen a side of Chicago that we all wish didn't exist. The graphic video of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert being fatally beaten is terrifying, heartbreaking and tragic. It shocks the conscience.

This bright and happy young honor student had his whole life ahead of him – but now it has been cut short by senseless violence.