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  • ‘Fixing the core’: U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona vows to promote equity

    ‘Fixing the core’: U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona vows to promote equity


    U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, left, speaks to members of the Education Writers Association at annual conference.

    Credit: Mallika Seshadri / EdSource

    Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona answered questions about this year’s rocky rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid Application (FAFSA), civil rights violations and Covid recovery, among other topics, on Thursday, at the Education Writers Association’s annual conference in Las Vegas. 

    Erica L. Green, a White House correspondent for The New York Times moderated the discussion — which was followed by a Q&A from the audience. 

    “I have the opportunity to see as a father, what my daughter and my son are experiencing as students, and it fills me with joy to see the promise, the opportunities that are available,” he told the audience in his opening remarks. “And that’s what we’re fighting for in this Biden/Harris administration.”

    Here are the highlights from his discussion on current issues in education, which have been edited for length and clarity: 

    Does the department understand the “gravity” of this year’s rocky FAFSA rollout?

    As frustrating as it was to be a secretary of education, to see the delays and the setbacks that we were having, I know it was much more frustrating for families, for students, for school leaders. But we’re also aware that this system, right now, is going to get better, and it’s going to continue to get better every year. You know, we’re at 10.4 million submissions. We’re 11% lower than we were last year, which is something that we’re working directly to address. Then applications are being processed. We’re working with colleges very closely. We’re working with superintendents, parents, community partners — (this) is all hands on deck.

    Did student loan debt take precedence over the FAFSA rollout? 

    As a first [generation] college student, the system wasn’t working for too many Americans in this country. … I would be more frustrated with myself if I looked back and I didn’t do anything about it (the FAFSA rollout).

    We’ve been devoting resources to FAFSA since we got in. We recognized early on that it needed to be delayed, and we continue to find ways to move it along. But no, the idea of we took resources away from (the effort to reduce student debt) to do that (revamping FAFSA) is false. 

    We have a very aggressive agenda to fix a broken system. We fix Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Seven thousand people got it in four years over the last administration. Ninety percent of people were denied. Now we have over $50 billion just in debt relief for teachers, nurses, service members, people that are serving our community. So, there is a lot of work that we are doing to fix a broken system. Improving FAFSAs is part of that. 

    Is the Office of Civil Rights ready to tackle a constantly growing load? 

    There’s an influx of practices that promote exclusion, that target students who, many times, are already vulnerable. We’re seeing, in many states, laws being passed that really, in my opinion, divide and make students feel less welcome in schools.

    We are prepared. We are pushing for additional funding for investigators when these cases come forward. But we’re also being proactive through our officer-based partnerships. We’re not waiting for incidents to happen to then address it. We’re working very closely on creating materials (and) guidance resources. We work very closely with university leaders, K-12 leaders on what they could do. We redesigned our website to make sure that the resources that we have in D.C. are two clicks away….

    We are working proactively but also being very intentional about communicating with both Democrats and Republicans that we have 60 less investigators now than we did in 2009. We have about three times as many requests for investigations. We need to make sure that we’re not just talking about supporting our students, but making sure we’re funding it. 

    Will cases be resolved by the end of this year? 

    Some cases take over a year because what the investigation request comes in as, often changes once we get people on the ground investigating. …  I don’t want to speak to timelines and investigation in a hypothetical sense. 

    I will tell you they’re priority for OCR (the Office for Civil Rights). And what we’re doing is communicating the resolutions that we come up with. You know, the goals of these investigations are not just to say you were wrong, but to say this student was harmed, and you have to provide restitution. How are you going to do that so that this doesn’t happen again? We want to lift those up and make cases out of those in a way that other universities can learn from it.

    How should districts navigate attacks to pipeline programs for specific demographics? 

    Let me start off by sharing an experience that I had: I was speaking at a commencement, and the word “equity” was scrubbed out of my bio. Let that sink in for a second. 

    The level of scrutiny that our leaders are under is ridiculous. In my conversations, whether it’s a college leader or a district leader, they’re telling me we have to navigate this. This is political interference. … We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure students feel welcome, are seen for who they are, respected, and let the political stuff stop at the doorstep. 

    Is the department prepared for potential attacks to key civil rights cases?  

    Nothing really surprises us. … We’ve seen book bans just take over. Forty-seven percent of the books that were banned were books on LGBTQI or BIPOC-themed. … What was once done in the shade is now being done in the sunlight. It doesn’t surprise me. We are prepared. I trust our educators to know how to make students feel welcome and supported and how to create a community in our schools. 

    Has the administration had an opportunity to be aggressive to get schools on track post-Covid? 

    We released the Raise the Bar strategy early on. We’ve been focusing on comprehensive schooling. … We were up to $200 million in full-service community schools, which helped address chronic absenteeism, parent engagement. … We’re focusing on career pathways. We have more states now that have career pathways. We have teacher apprenticeships in 30 states. We had zero when I came in. 

    In terms of mental health, we have 40% more school social workers, counselors, 25-30% more nurses. … What we’re doing is focusing on the core of what works. We know good teaching and learning works. We are really raising the bar on the teaching profession. … We’re defending public education, focusing on good Title I programming, making sure our students have access to multilingualism in this country. I’m talking about embracing multilingualism as a superpower. 

    What do you want to be remembered for?

    We’re focusing on fixing the core of education — literacy, numeracy, giving students access to higher levels of that, addressing inequities in our schools by addressing mental health issues, by making sure we have a professional workforce that is respected and is going to want to come back. 

    We’re losing teachers. We have a lot of schools in our country that have 20-30% of the teachers are substitute teachers. So we’re doing that, and we’re improving affordability and access to higher education. To me, there’s no silver bullet. … It’s about really being student-centered and making sure we’re focusing on the things that actually move the needle in the classroom, while also addressing inequities by being bold.

    Are Jewish students’ civil rights violated under Article 6 of the Civil Rights Act when that Jewish student is told that Israel should not exist?

    If a student feels that they are being attacked for who they are — their faith or who they are, where they come from — and they feel that they’re being violated, or they feel harassed, it is the responsibility of the college to act. And if the investigation comes forward, it’ll be reviewed by the Office for Civil Rights.

    Is anti-Zionism a civil rights Article Six violation? 

    We do take into consideration anti-Zionism in the investigations that we’ve made, as the executive board in the last administration requires us to do. 

    What are your thoughts on diversity, equity and inclusion bans? 

    Those programs are intended to make sure that (students) feel welcome on those campuses. That’s the bottom line. And there’s a myth out there that they promote only some and not others. Well then, fix it. I believe a lot of the issues that we’ve had in this country — in the last two months on campuses — could have been corrected with strong programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion, because they teach students, and they embrace a culture where you can disagree but still be a part of a community, which is what we didn’t see on some campuses. 

    So for me, as a Latino, it really concerns me because I remember my experience when I was the first one in my family going to a college, and I didn’t know anyone there. It’s programs like that that helped students like me, 30 years ago, feel welcome, seen and unapologetic for who they are. 

    What is the department’s plan to fund districts to reduce absenteeism? Is the department willing to call for grant proposals to address the challenge? 

    A big part of the focus of those full-service community schools is focusing on attendance. The funding for that since the president took office … is five times more. In our budget, we have a proposal for $8 billion. A big chunk of that would be for addressing chronic absenteeism. And there’s already $250 million in grants. 

    Do you release any form of guidance on book bans? 

    The biggest difference from my current position to every other position I’ve had since I was a fourth grade teacher is that I don’t influence, promote, dictate curriculum. Those decisions are state level decisions. … 

    For me, as a teacher, CRT (critical race theory) is culturally relevant teaching. … When we teach in a way that’s culturally appropriate with materials that reflect the beautiful diversity of our country, students engage better. We talk about chronic absenteeism, right, making students feel welcome and seen. We have the opposite happening. …

    We are engaging through our Office of Civil Rights to provide support for those districts and how to handle situations like that and inform districts of what the rights are. We actually sent folks from the Office of Civil Rights … to states when requested to help them understand how to navigate political terrain, while doing what’s right for kids.  

    Where does special education fall in your top 10? 

    It’s very high, I would say; you know, definitely one of the priorities, but we address it by saying we need to fund our public schools. When I talk about defending public education, I recognize there are students with disabilities that need to make sure that public education dollars don’t dry up. 

    You know, when I was a school principal, we had ratios of like 25 to 30 students with special needs with one teacher. Those ratios just get higher. School counselor-to-student ratios are like 600 to 1 in a lot of parts of our country. When I talk about making sure we’re funding public education, it’s the students with disabilities that also are said to lose a lot if you don’t do that. … 

    I’m not into shiny things, I’m into what works in the classroom: funding Title I, funding our classrooms. Giving our schools the resources that they need will go to those special education students as well. …

    Special education students or regular education students first. We can’t put them in a corner, put them in a box and say “these are your resources over here.” Every teacher should be qualified to serve students with disabilities. 

    Have schools spent enough Covid relief money on the priorities you outlined?

    I do believe that districts focus on academic recovery, mental health support and making sure that facilities are safe for students to return. … 

    As these … dollars sunset, we’re passing the baton back for state and local leaders who recognize that when used well, we get students back to school, we close achievement gaps, we provide the mental health support that our students need. So, let’s not take our foot off the gas pedal. And, we have a blueprint of those priority areas that work, and we see data from our districts that show, when used well, it does work. We just can’t stop now. 





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  • Fresno’s first female leader vows to address the needs of each student

    Fresno’s first female leader vows to address the needs of each student


    Fresno Unified’s interim superintendent, Misty Her

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Since assuming the role of interim superintendent of California’s third-largest school district, Misty Her has been doing two things that she hopes will shape her tenure: listening and learning. 

    Despite being in the school district for over three decades, she’s conducting what she calls “listening” sessions with those in the Fresno Unified school community. In the two months since taking over, she’s held 16 sessions with students, district leaders, principals, retired teachers, graduates, parents, city officials and other community members, with more scheduled for next week and in the new school year. 

    Interim superintendency

    On May 3, the school board appointed Misty Her, previously the district’s deputy superintendent, to lead the district on an interim basis during a national search to fill the permanent position. She started the interim superintendency on May 8 with outgoing superintendent Bob Nelson moving into an advisory role until his last day.

    Misty Her has met with Fresno Unified district leaders to set expectations for her tenure as interim superintendent.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    “People have been asking me ‘Why are you doing that?’” she said. “They were like, ‘You’ve been in the district for 30 years. Why would you still need to go listen and learn? Shouldn’t you already know a lot about the district?’” 

    Up until May, Her’s entire career in Fresno Unified, not including her time as a student, encompassed roles as a bilingual instructional aide, teacher, vice principal, principal, districtwide instructional superintendent and, in 2021, deputy superintendent, when she became the nation’s highest-ranking Hmong leader in K-12 education. 

    “My role, now, is different,” she said, “so I’m really intentionally listening and learning.” 

    She’ll continue the sessions throughout her tenure and expects to make changes as progress is made, she told EdSource in a sit-down interview. 

    What she believes, even now, is that knowing and identifying each student “by name” and “by need,” much like she did as a classroom teacher, will define her time in the role. 

    “Sometimes when you step away from the classroom, people don’t see you as a teacher anymore … because they start to see the title,” Her said as she talked about her journey, her interim superintendency, the “teacher within” and her focus on students – first and foremost. 

    “At the heart of who I am, before anything else, I’m always going to be a teacher.”

    First woman to lead district

    When the Fresno Unified school board named Her as the interim superintendent, she became the first woman to lead the district since its 1873 inception. 

    “I’ve walked this hallway a thousand times,” she said about seeing her picture on the wall of the district office. “It took 151 years in this district, as diverse as this district (is), before a woman’s face got on that wall.”

    Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource
    Lasherica Thornton/EdSource
    Misty Her, Fresno Unified’s interim superintendent, is the first woman to ever lead the 70,000-plus-student school system.
    A Hmong leader

    According to Her and the Hmong American Center in Wisconsin, Hmong people, an indigenous group originally from parts of  China and other Asian countries, have continually migrated, first to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam with many eventually coming to the United States, settling in states such as California and Minnesota, so “we don’t have a country.” 

    Based on 2019 data from the Pew Research Center, Fresno has the country’s second-largest Hmong population, after Minneapolis-St.Paul in Minnesota. 

    “The reason why Hmong people came here to the U.S. was because of the Vietnam War,” she said.

    The CIA recruited Hmong soldiers for the “secret war” in Laos to prevent communism from spreading further into Southeast Asia. Congressional investigation and other events eventually brought the war to light. 

    “It was secret because no one knew that we existed, and no one knew that we were used to help the Americans fight,” Her said. “When the war ended, all the Hmong people were just left to die because (following their victory), the communists started coming after anybody who was helping the U.S. That’s actually how my family ended up here.” 

    Her face on that wall – and as the face of the district – embodies the fact that she is the first woman at the helm of the district as well as its first Hmong leader. 

    Born in a prisoner-of-war camp in Laos, Her’s family escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand after the end of the Vietnam War before coming to the United States and moving to Fresno when she was a young child, according to a district statement announcing her appointment. That firsthand experience and her understanding of the challenges faced by students from diverse backgrounds have shaped her into a passionate and effective leader, the district’s statement said.

    Of the more than 92% of Fresno Unified students who are from ethnic minority groups, around 6,500 are Hmong. Behind Spanish, the Hmong language, which was only developed in written form less than 75 years ago, is the second most common home language of Fresno Unified’s English learners with over 10% speaking Hmong. 

    “Having someone that knows our kids, looks like our kids — that representation matters,” Her said.  

    Still, she wants to be in classrooms, constantly gaining a better understanding of the district’s students. 

    Classroom-centered, kids-first approach

    With a mindset that keeps classrooms and kids first, Her started the listening and learning tour by seeking out student perspectives from elementary, middle and high school students. 

    “Our students … can teach us a lot about our system,” she said, “the things that we’re designing for them — what’s working, what’s not working.”  

    And she has gained insight from those conversations. 

    Among the students’ comments and questions that have stuck with Her: “We want to be engaged in classrooms” and third graders asking, “What are you and our teachers preparing us for?”

    “I started with kids first because I wanted to put their voice in the middle of designing my 100-day plan,” she said.  

    Her drafted the plan for the district in May and June, following the initial listening sessions. 

    The crux of the plan: Focus on student results. 

    Goals and plans for interim superintendency

    Fresno Unified students
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    “Student outcomes is priority,” she said. 

    Based on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP tests, most Fresno Unified students failed to meet the state’s standards in 2023: 66.8% failed to meet English language arts standards, and 76.7% failed to meet math standards. 

    For third grade — the school year believed to be pivotal in determining reading proficiency and predicting future success — just 29% of third-graders are at grade level, a GO Public Schools 2023 student outcome report for Fresno Unified showed. 

    Her plans to implement, measure the effectiveness and monitor the progress of the district’s recently launched literacy initiative to achieve first-grade reading proficiency for students, two years before third-grade, when future success is predicted. 

    The Every Child Is a Reader initiative includes literacy plans to address students’ unique needs. The plans embrace high-quality instruction, interventions and parent and community partnerships, according to the initiative description. 

    “Every Child Is A Reader is a groundbreaking initiative that will lead our district to better instruction of reading for our youngest learners and ensure far better academic outcomes for our students,” she said. 

    Based on the 2023 GO Public Schools report, only 20% of seventh graders are at grade level in math, an indicator that most students are not prepared for algebra. 

    Her said the kids she has talked to reaffirmed the need to focus on those student outcomes, but also challenged her to reshape how student comprehension and application are taught.

    “I was talking to (a) group of students and they said, ‘Don’t just teach us how to read and write and do math, but teach us how to apply that,’” she said.

    An eighth grader told her his test scores indicate that he’s on a sixth-grade proficiency level. 

    “He said, ‘I’m so much smarter than that. I can do this, this, and this, but it’s just that, in my home, I never got books. I don’t have a tutor that comes in to help me. I rarely see my mom … because she works two jobs. My test shows that I should only be in sixth grade, but there are things that I can do. Can you guys use what I know to help me get me there?’” Her said. 

    “It really shifted what I thought would be goals for us to what are goals that can resonate with our students.” 

    Improving student outcomes

    Her said she wouldn’t be leading Fresno Unified, based on what her test scores showed, if not for the support of teachers and mentors. 

    “If I was just measured by my proficiency level when I was a kid, then I probably wouldn’t even be here,” she said. “A lot of people poured into me because I had counselors who said, ‘You can go to college.’ Coming from a home where no one knew how to fill out a college application, my counselor filled out the application for me.

    “But why do we reach some students and not others? That’s my question. (My brother) and I had some of the very same teachers, but there was an investment in me and not in him.” 

    That lingering question guides her. 

    To improve student outcomes across the entire district, she said, “We have to get everybody across the finish line” of proficiency.

    “The goal is to get them there in whichever way works for them,” she said. “That’s really going deep to understand every single child by name, by need.”

    Fresno Unified’s interim superintendent, Misty Her, adopted a 100-day plan for the school district.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    As part of Her’s 100-day plan, Fresno Unified gathered state, district, school and student data to identify and prioritize ways to enhance learning for each child while also focusing on historically underserved student groups, such as English learners and students with disabilities, who have significant achievement gaps compared with other groups. 

    This upcoming school year, educators will be able to adapt teaching and leadership strategies based on real-time data via a district dashboard, according to Her’s plans. 

    “And, then, how do we provide the appropriate scaffolds and interventions so that we do get them there,” Her said, “but that we never take away their grade-level rigor that is needed for them to excel.”

    Identifying student needs: ‘It’s ‘personal’

    Her knows all too well the importance of providing such intervention while still offering challenging, grade-level content. 

    “This is very personal for me,” she said. “I remember when I was in first grade … I was put in a remedial class, pulled out for like three hours a day, missing core instruction,” she recalled. “There was no way I was ever going to get caught up.” 

    At the time, the young Her was learning English as a second language as she primarily spoke Hmong. 

    “And so if we keep doing that with our students, we’re actually doing them a disservice,” she said. 

    Challenges in leading Fresno Unified

    Fresno Unified interim Superintendent Misty Her and district leaders talk about about her goals and set expectations for her interim role.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    There is no “silver bullet… to fix this,” Her said, so “I think people have to be open to new ideas that may be unconventional.”

    This week, she and the district leadership team were at Harvard University for the Public Education Leadership Project meant to foster greater educational outcomes.

    While employing new ideas and methods may be key to reaching her goals, there will be times when she must say “no.” 

    Fresno’s teachers union leadership has criticized the district for initiating programs just for the sake of expanding, rather than implementing the programs well. 

    “We are a district that says we want to do a lot of things,” Her said. “I am going to say no.” 

    But not without noting ideas that can work — at some point. 

    “Everybody knows I have a for-later folder, and it’s pretty thick right now,” she said, laughing. “So, as people bring really great, wonderful ideas, I just have to say, ‘Let me put it in my for-later folder.’” 

    Quality over quantity: Top priorities first

    To Her, the district has had so many objectives that it impacts the quality of the goals. She spent weeks narrowing down those goals to what will be the most important for the entire district: improving student outcomes and achieving operational excellence. 

    “When a kid enters our system, we have to be able to say to our parents, ‘These are the … goals we’re working on. These are the guarantees that we can give you.’”

    Student outcomes

    • Identify and focus on the needs of each child
    • Implement and measure the district’s first-grade literacy initiative 
    • Empower educator autonomy, but with accountability measures
    • Adapt teaching and leadership strategies based on real-time data
    • Visit schools to observe the goals in action

    Operational excellence

    Her characterized operational excellence as each part of the Fresno Unified school system working together instead of in isolation. 

    “I think that sometimes we’ve created this very complicated system for our parents to figure out, and we need to simplify … for people to understand,” she said. “I took a call from a parent. By the time the parent got to me, the parent had gone through four different calls” because her English wasn’t strong, and people didn’t know what to do with her.

    “I finally got on the phone; she’s like, ‘I just need my child’s homework, but I need it modified.’ And it was as simple as that.”

    Holding interim position impacts chances for permanent role  

    The interim superintendency is an opportunity for Her, board members, students, staff and the community to see if she’s the best person to lead the district. 

    “It could go either way,” she admitted. “If I can’t get results, then, I shouldn’t be the superintendent.

    “I just want it to be a win for our students.”

    A change in perspective because of the search

    So far, the search process has been engulfed in community angst over an alleged lack of transparency and accusations that the process had been tainted by politics, EdSource reported. 

    The school board in April said it would broaden its search — a shift from its initial decision to interview district employees first. Community outrage spurred the changes. 

    The district employees at the center of the search, including Her, faced racial harassment and threats.

    “Having gone through the challenges of the search, it really has strengthened me. It’s given me resilience that I didn’t think I had,” she said. “I describe it as (being) in a tornado, and you don’t quite know what you’re going to get hit with. Then, you start to get centered.” 

    That centering moment was in April when the search stalled.  

    “I just got up and said, ‘Cancel everything on my calendar for this week. I want to be at schools,’” she said. “I spent every moment with kids. I read. I did recess duty. I did lunch duty. (I told teachers), ‘I’ll teach your class for a little bit.’ I had to go find myself again. I went back to being a teacher and that got me centered (and) saved me in every way.

    “I started to … dig deep to really understand why I want this job.” 

    ‘More than a test score’

    “I want to be superintendent because … I’m tired of people defining them by a test score at the end of the year,” Her said. “I want to find a holistic way in which we can still get our students there, but that our students feel valued and they feel important and they feel like they’re a part of something greater than just that proficiency level that is given to them.”





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