- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- John B. King, Jr.
John B. King, Jr.
Former U.S. Secretary of Education
Biography
John B. King Jr. is the president and CEO of The Education Trust, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps, from preschool through college. King served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the 10th U.S. Secretary of Education. In tapping him to lead the U.S. Department of Education, President Obama called King “an exceptionally talented educator,” citing his commitment to “preparing every child for success” and his lifelong dedication to education as a teacher, principal, and leader of schools and school systems.
Before becoming education secretary, King carried out the duties of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, overseeing all policies and programs related to P-12 education, English learners, special education, and innovation. In this role, King also oversaw the agency’s operations. King joined the department following his tenure as the first African American and Puerto Rican to serve as New York State Education Commissioner.
King began his career in education as a high school social studies teacher in Puerto Rico and Boston, Mass., and as a middle school principal.
King’s life story is an extraordinary testament to the transformative power of education. Both of King’s parents were career New York City public school educators, whose example serves as an enduring inspiration. Both of King’s parents passed away from illness by the time he was 12 years old. He credits New York City public school teachers — particularly educators at P.S. 276 in Canarsie and Mark Twain Junior High School in Coney Island — for saving his life by providing him with rich and engaging educational experiences and by giving him hope for the future.
King holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, as well as a Master of Arts in the teaching of social studies and a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University. King serves as a visiting professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Education and is a member of several boards, including those for The Century Foundation, The Robin Hood Foundation, Teach Plus, and the American Museum of Natural History. He also serves on several advisory boards, including Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative, the Rework America Task Force, the GOOD+ Foundation’s Fatherhood Leadership Council, and the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement at the University of California.
King lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife (a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher) and his two daughters, who attend local public schools.
You can follow King on Twitter via @JohnBKing.
Seminars
“Leading in Education Policy from Different Seats”
In these seminars, we will examine the dynamic and complex state of American public education, the various actors taking the lead on education policy, and the levers they employ to implement change.
What is the state of American public education, and what is the role of the federal government? While many of our international competitors have highly centralized education systems, “local control” is a defining characteristic of the U.S. system. Our 50 states and more than 13,000 districts are responsible for more than 90% of the funding in K-12 and are the key decision-makers on a broad array of issues. In that context, we will explore the evolving federal role in education from Brown v. Board of Education (1954) through the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). We will also try to understand how it can be simultaneously true that the U.S. boasts some of the best schools in the world and is in the middle of the pack in performance compared to our international competitors.
Suggested Reading:
U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries | Drew DeSilver, Pew Research Center
What does it mean to be an educator-activist for educational justice? What does it mean to take an intersectional approach to discussions of social justice issues? From Ferguson to Baltimore to Chicago, police violence against African-American men and women has sparked protests, turnover in the leadership of police departments, shifts in law and the enforcement of civil rights protections, and even electoral change. What is the moral responsibility of educators with respect to Black Lives Matter when it comes to how they approach their students, their colleagues, and their colleagues? What lessons can be drawn for how educators ought to approach other critical social justice issues from DACA to the treatment of students at the border to ensuring schools are safe and supportive environments for transgender students?
Special Guest: DeRay Mckesson, Host of Crooked Media’s “Pod Save the People” Podcast, Author of On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope, former candidate for Mayor of Baltimore, TFA Alum, and Co-Founder of Campaign Zero
Suggested Reading:
Educational Justice: Which Are You — an Advocate, Ally, or Activist? | Sharif El-Mekki, The Education Trust
The new book “How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation's Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education” by the 9th U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan opens with the provocative line “Education runs on lies.” What does Secretary Duncan mean by that line and what does he think we should do about it as people who care about the future of the country? What are the key lessons Secretary Duncan drew from his experiences as Chicago’s superintendent and the nation’s highest ranking education official? What are his hopes for the city’s new mayor, the state’s new governor, and the 2020 election when it comes to education policy and policies affecting the lives of children and families, particularly those who have historically been underserved?
Special Guest: Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education
Suggested Reading:
Arne Duncan’s Wars: With drive, ingenuity and a willingness to throw elbows, Obama’s closest friend in the Cabinet has tried to reshape American schools. Now will the backlash erase his legacy? | Michael Grunwald, POLITICO
In the Brown v. Board of Education decision (1954), Chief Justice Warren wrote on behalf of a unanimous court, “In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms… We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” In the years that followed, school desegregation faced massive resistance, but progress was made through a mix of courageous advocacy and successfully enforced court orders. That progress slowed in the 1980s and today schools in many communities are more segregated than they were ten or twenty years ago. What will it take for America to fulfill the promise of Brown v. Board of Education (1954)? We will examine communities that offer a hopeful model for school integration – both racial and socioeconomic – and consider the practical and political obstacles other communities will need to overcome to follow their lead.
Special Guest: Pedro Martinez, Superintendent, San Antonio Public Schools
Suggested Podcast:
The Problem We All Live With, This American Life (Part One: Prologue, Act I, Act II)
Charters: Good, bad, or indifferent? Why does a well-respected education research organization, CREDO at Stanford, simultaneously say the performance of charters nationally is at best indistinguishable from traditional district schools, but charters in Boston and New York City represent a breakthrough in closing the achievement gap? Are test scores relative to neighboring district schools the right bar for assessing charter school efficacy? How should we analyze long-term charter outcomes for students – and communities? We will examine the original rationales for the creation of charter schools, the evolution of the charter school sector, and the shifting politics of charter schools. We will also consider how the advocacy of the current administration for both charters and vouchers has impacted the political landscape.
Special Guests: Darryl Cobb, Partner, Charter School Growth Fund and former Chief Learning Officer at the KIPP Foundation; Daniel Anello, Chief Executive Officer, Kids First Chicago (formerly New Schools for Chicago); and Ashley McCall, 3rd Grade Bilingual ELA Teacher at Chicago Public School's Cesar E Chávez Multicultural Academic Center
Suggested Reading:
Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos, and the changing politics of charter schools | Jon Valant, Brookings
At a recent House Education & Labor Committee hearing, 2016 Teacher of the Year and now Connecticut Congresswoman Jahana Hayes said, "If they think teachers are striking for salaries alone, then they don't get it. That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works.” We will explore the current wave of teacher walkouts and strikes to better understand both what precipitated them and what their long-term implications are for education policy and activism. We will also consider the broader role of teacher leadership in advancing changes in education policy.
Special Guests: Roberto Rodriguez, Executive Director, TeachPlus and former Deputy Assistant to the President for Education (Obama Administration) & Kat Pastor, 2016 School Counselor of the Year, #RedforEd Arizona
Suggested Reading:
How Teacher Strikes Are Changing | Madeline Hill, EducationWeek
While public education does not appear in the U.S. Constitution, it is a core responsibility identified in state constitutions. Indeed, in our federal system, states have extraordinary agency in establishing what students will learn, how schools are funded and organized, and how schools and the adults who work inside of them are supported and evaluated. We will explore the levers of state policy with one of the nation’s longest serving state chiefs and an accomplished state-policy advocate. We will discuss the role of politics, management, and policy design in the state chief role and what it takes to successfully advance an ambitious agenda for change in partnership with key stakeholders. We will consider the role of state-level advocates. What does it take to build an effective cross-sector coalition to pursue an equity-focused state policy agenda? What are the critical levers for state-level advocates to pull and what are the keys to success?
Special Guests: John White, Louisiana State Superintendent & Gini Pupo-Walker, Senior Director of Education Policy & Programs, Conexión Américas (a UnidosUS affiliate) & Elected Member of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education
Suggested Reading:
John White: ‘Exaggerated Accountability Response in Combination With Exaggerated Chaos Will Produce Distrust’ — The ‘A’ Word | Anne Wicks & William McKenzie, The74
When is it time to sue? What is the role of litigation in advancing educational justice? What kinds of K-12 and higher education cases arise under Title VI and Title IX? How do state laws designed to protect civil rights affect schools and how are they enforced? Why have there been so many school finance lawsuits in states and why haven’t they produced genuine resource equity? We will examine legal advocacy as a tool for educational change at both the federal and state level.
Special Guests: Lisa Madigan, former Illinois Attorney General & Seth Galanter, Senior Director, Legal Advocacy, National Center for Youth Law and former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Education Department (Obama Administration)
Suggested Reading:
State Attorneys General Tell Betsy DeVos: Keep Obama School Discipline Guidance | Andrew Ujifusa, EducationWeek