African-American woman will head board for first time

Gov. Gavin Newsom has named Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor emeritus and one of the nation’s most prominent education researchers, to head the California State Board of Education.

“We need a new president for the State Board of Education, to lead the way and work alongside State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and to lift up all of our students,” said Newsom, who announced her appointment during his State of the State speech last week.

Darling-Hammond will be the first AfricanAmerican woman to head the 11-person board,

which plays a key role in formulating and overseeing implementation of multiple education policies and reforms in what is by far the nation’s largest school system. It serves 6.2 million children, who comprise 1 in 8 public school children in the U.S.

Darling-Hammond, who currently chairs the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, will succeed another Stanford professor emeritus, Michael Kirst, who led the state board during Jerry Brown’s first terms as governor, as well as his last two terms.

Kirst, a close adviser to Brown for more than four decades on education matters, stepped down from the board in December at the end of Brown’s four terms as governor.

Darling-Hammond and Kirst have been close collaborators and live within blocks of each other adjoining the Stanford campus. Kirst said that while DarlingHammond was chair of the teacher credentialing commission and he was leading the state board, they took regular walks together in the neighborhood, discussing state education policies.

Over the past few weeks, Newsom has assembled the largest team of advisers on children and education of any governor in California history. The appointments so far have tilted toward early education, Newsom’s major education priority.

Darling-Hammond represents by far the most prominent appointment regarding K-12 education, and she will presumably be a key player in helping Newsom fulfill his major campaign pledge to create a “cradle-to-career” system of education in California.

Her appointment sends a strong message that Newsom is seeking continuity with several notable K-12 education policies introduced by Brown over the past eight years. DarlingHammond has been an outspoken supporter of those policies, many of which she helped shape in discussions with Brown.

These include the Local Control Funding Formula for low-income and other high needs children, a new state accountability system based on multiple measures, a color-coded California School Dashboard showing how schools and districts are doing on those measures, and an expansion of the state’s efforts to deal with teacher shortages in several key subjects, including math and science and special education.

“This is a critical moment in California education,” Darling-Hammond said in an interview. She said both Brown and Kirst “laid a strong foundation for a new approach to 21st century learning.”

She said she was interested in “continuing that very strong trajectory,” while “taking it to the next level.” That, she said, would include “adding early childhood components that will obviously be on the table.”

“Any state or nation that has improved education outcomes has had a 15- to 20year trajectory and stayed the course” with its reform initiatives, she said.

Kirst said he was “elated” about Darling-Hammond’s appointment.

“It is another signal that the governor doesn’t want to drastically change course and doesn’t want to overturn what has been done but wants to improve things and build on them.”

He said Darling-Hammond’s expertise in teaching and learning will represent a major addition to the board.

“She brings new strengths in a state where we have to strengthen instruction for such a diverse student body,” he said.

Darling-Hammond left Stanford in 2015 to establish the Learning Policy Institute, a research and policy organization based in Palo Alto, where she is president.

In 2008, she headed President-elect Barack Obama’s education transition team and was a leading contender to be his secretary of education.

Instead, Obama chose Arne Duncan, then the superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools.

The state board will now have had two nationally renowned scholars with a strong policy bent serving back-to-back terms.

Darling-Hammond is a former president of the American Educational Research Association, the leading education research organization in the U.S., and is a prolific author, with more than 500 publications under her belt, including several books.

Last year, Darling Hammond was named the No. 1 scholar in the nation “doing the most to shape educational practice and policy,” based on a ranking by a panel of distinguished scholars assembled by the American Enterprise Institute.

Brown appointed Darling-Hammond to chair the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where she led major reforms of what teachers need to know to earn a credential.

“The focus (in the credentialing process) has to be on how to meet students’ needs, rather than just check the boxes of state requirements,” she said.

She said she was encouraged by teacher activism around the state and the country, including in Los Angeles, where teachers have placed a range of support services, such as additional counseling, as a core part of their organizing efforts.

The focus on the “whole child,” she said, should be at the root of the state’s efforts to serve children from their earliest years.

The state board approves curriculum frameworks, recommends instructional materials, and adopts tests and assessments that are administered statewide to millions of students.

The board also considers appeals from charter schools that have been denied authorization to open by local districts or county offices of education.

Positions on the board are unpaid, although members receive a token stipend to attend meetings, and their travel expenses are covered.

Technically, the president is selected by the board, though Newsom has indicated that DarlingHammond is his choice to fill the top slot, and there is no doubt that she will be selected by her fellow board members to the position.