Published: 12-01-08
AUSTIN – Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott has been selected to serve on a 10-member task force to develop education-recommendations that could be carried out during the first 100 days of the Obama administration.
The presidential transition task force was created by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). This geographically and politically diverse group will develop recommendations that will be forwarded to the next U.S. secretary of education.
“I’m humbled to be included on this task force” Scott said. “As a former congressional aide and as a state education chief I look forward to developing education policy proposals that will strengthen and improve the nation’s public schools. I’m very pleased that Texas has a seat at the table” he said.
The task force will meet in Washington D.C. on Monday. CCSSO President T. Kenneth James the education chief in Arkansas said his goal is to present a document to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team on Dec. 15 that communicates the chief’s recommendations for the first 100 days they are in office.
CCSSO was the first member group to engage in a conversation with Linda Darling-Hammond a Stanford University professor and campaign advisor to Obama. During a recent meeting in Austin the chiefs presented a series of issues to Darling-Hammond dealing with topics such as school accountability; professional development; state education agency resources; innovation; efforts to move away from a compliance-driven relationship with the U.S. Department of Education and research dealing with best practices.
Serving on the transition task force are the state education chiefs from Texas California Iowa Wisconsin Kansas Alabama Illinois Maine Rhode Island and Virginia.
