President-elect Joe Biden has elected Miguel Cardona, the education commissioner for Connecticut and a former public school teacher, as the education secretary.
Cardona was appointed to the highest education post in Connecticut just months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March. When schools switched to distance learning, he rushed to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the country. Since then, however, he has been increasingly pushing for schools to reopen, saying it is harmful to keep students at home.
If confirmed, his first task will be to expand that effort nationwide. Biden has pledged that a majority of US schools will reopen by the end of its first 100 days in office. Biden pledges new federal guidelines for school opening decisions, and a “large-scale” education division to identify and share the best ways to teach during a pandemic.
Biden’s choice of Cardona, which has yet to be announced, was confirmed by three people who were familiar with his decision but were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Cardona, 45, grew up on a housing project in Meriden, Connecticut, and went through the city’s public schools before returning as a fourth-grade teacher in the district in 1998. At the age of 28, he had become the youngest director in the state. before working his way up to become the district’s assistant inspector.
As an educator, he has dedicated his work to improving the education of English-speaking students and closing the performance gaps between colored students and their white classmates. Both issues were an ongoing battle in Connecticut, which has had one of the biggest performance gaps in the country for decades.
Cardona’s dissertation at the University of Connecticut explored how the “political will” can be strengthened to close gaps between students learning English and their peers. It’s a personal problem for Cardona, who has said that he went to kindergarten and only spoke Spanish and had trouble learning English.
He was chosen to help lead a state task force in 2011 that studied how to close learning gaps in Connecticut, and made dozens of recommendations. In an update on the work in February, Cardona said the state gaps have been closed, but not fast enough. At the current pace of progress, he said, it would take until 2060 to erase the inequalities.
The pandemic has only increased his concern about education inequality. In a September video message to special education teachers, he said the pandemic “has further widened the performance gaps. You are the lieutenants fighting to close those gaps. “
Those concerns motivated his work with the Democratic Ned Lamont government to provide computers and wireless Internet devices to students across the state. In December, Connecticut said it was the first state to distribute laptops to every student who needed one.
But that’s not enough, Cardona has said. He recently drew attention to new state data showing that students who learn online missed twice as many days of class as those who attended school in person. The data also showed that high-needs students, including those learning English, are much more likely to be seen as chronically absent this school year.
During the summer, as schools were planning to reopen, Cardona urged all schools to provide personalized education to all students. Recent data from the state shows that few students learned completely in-person during October and November. But even as virus cases increased in the fall, Cardona urged more schools to reopen, saying there was no evidence of transmission in schools.
“Our position has always been that you can get students into the classroom, that’s the best option,” Cardona told state lawmakers in October. “There is no substitute for that classroom experience with a teacher.”
His position has at times put him at odds with teacher unions, which have called for school buildings to be closed until security precautions are met, as well as with some parents who say schools should be ordered to open. Cardona has tried to balance their interests by pushing for reopening without making it mandatory.
Despite their occasional conflict with him, a coalition of education unions in Connecticut previously supported his candidacy as Biden’s education secretary. In a Dec. 18 statement, the coalition said Cardona has been tested by the pandemic and “would be a positive force for public education.”
“While this challenge was a rocky road – and many issues remain unsolved – teachers and school support staff have appreciated his openness and cooperation,” the group wrote.
Cardona was also backed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which pressured Biden to appoint more Latinos to cabinet positions. In a letter to Biden this month, the group quoted Cardona’s accomplishments saying that he “fully understands the challenges facing English as a second language (ESL) students, Latinos and other minority students in US classrooms.”
In addition to the pandemic, Biden’s secretary of education will also be tasked with reversing a series of policies set by Secretary Betsy DeVos. During his campaign, Biden portrayed DeVos as an enemy of public schools and pledged to install a head of education with experience working in public schools.
He vowed to revoke Trump’s policies, including DeVos’ recent rules on the handling of sexual assault on campus.
Biden’s education plans also include measures that are in line with Cardona’s interests. The Democrat has pledged to triple federal Title I funding for the most needy schools to ensure that “no child’s future is determined by their zip code, parent’s income, race, or disability.” Biden also proposes free kindergartens and policies designed to make the nation’s schools and teaching staff more diverse.
In December, Connecticut said it was the first state to require high schools to provide courses on black and Latino studies. Cardona praised the measure, saying that “identities matter.”
“The fact is that more inclusive, culturally relevant content in classrooms leads to greater student engagement and better outcomes for all,” he said in a statement.
Cardona and his wife, Marissa Pérez Cardona, have two children.