U.S. Chamber Welcomes Secretary Duncan's Remarks on Education Reform Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today welcomed remarks by Education Secretary Arne Duncan regarding the use of stimulus funds to tackle such reform issues as teacher accountability, the expansion of school terms, innovation and evaluation, and tying student achievement to international benchmarks.

"The Chamber has always emphasized that a first class education system is the only way for America to compete and succeed in the global economy," said Arthur Rothkopf, senior vice president at the Chamber. "We applaud Secretary Duncan for the willingness to meet our current education challenges head-on to ensure every child has the opportunity to achieve the American dream."

Education reform continues to be one of the Chamber's top priorities. Nationwide, only about one-third of 4th and 8th graders—and less than 20% of low-income and minority children—are proficient in reading and math. The core ideas the Chamber believes are necessary to strengthen and reform the nation's education system remain:

1. Changing the way we train, pay and evaluate teachers
2. Giving school administrators greater independence to run their schools
3. Collecting more data to accurately measure results such as teacher performance and
return on investment
4. Implementing more rigorous academic standards and a system to measure whether
schools are meeting them
5. Focusing on innovation and evaluation

"We look forward to working with Secretary Duncan and the Obama Administration on addressing the looming education crisis and making sure education reform comes to fruition," Rothkopf said.

The Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) promotes high educational standards and effective workforce training systems so that they are aligned with each other and with today's rigorous business demands.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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