Roderick Paige

Roderick Paige

Roderick Paige Raynor (* 17th June 1933 in Monticello , Lawrence County , Mississippi ) is an American educational policy and was from 2001 to 2005 Minister of Education of the United States .

General

Paige grew up in segregated Mississippi and built his career on the idea that education creates equal opportunity. It was not until he was a college - dean and school superintendent and then became the first African American Secretary of Education was. On January 20, 2001, he was appointed the 7th US Secretary of Education by the US Senate .

Paige earned a bachelor's degree from Jackson State University, Mississippi; he then graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington , Indiana with a Masters and PhD .

Career

college

Paige began his career coaching college athletes . He then served a decade as dean of the Texas Southern University Educational College. There he established a “University Center for Excellence in Urban Education”, a research facility that focuses on problems related to the education and management of urban school systems.

School district

As a steward and head of education for the Houston Independent School District (HISD) from 1989-1994, Paige worked with others on a "Declaration of Faith and Vision" aimed at bringing about fundamental reform through decentralization . The main points are training, accountability at all levels and the development of a common curriculum. This accelerated the ongoing, comprehensive process of restructuring the HISD.

Reforms

Paige became Superintendent for Schools at HISD in 1994. As such, he created the Peer Examination, Evaluation, and Redesign (PEER) Program, which solicits recommendations from corporations and community workers to strengthen school support services and programs. He started a system of charter schools with a wide range of skills (textbooks, materials, personnel management). He made sure that the teachers at HISD are paid like those of larger Texas schools in order to increase competitiveness. Paige made HISD the first school district in Texas to introduce performance contracts, as in the private sector, whereby older employees continued employment and were paid on a performance basis. He also introduced the "Teacher Incentive Program" which rewards teachers for excellence and creative solutions to educational problems.

Other activities

Paige served on the Texas Education Agency's oversight committee and on the state's educational committee in the high school sector . He also led the youth work sub-committee at the National Employee Policy Commission at the US Department of Labor. ("National Commission for Employment Policy of the US Department of Labor"). Paige is a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Paige is a former member of the Houston Job Training Partnership Council, the Community Advisory Board, the Texas Commerce Bank, the American Leadership Forum, and the Board of Directors of the Texas Corporate and Corporate Governance Texas Business and Education Coalition.

Praise and criticism

Prices

Paige is an active member of the State Education Commission and the City Schools Council. These activities earned him the Richard R. Green Award for Outstanding Urban Educator in 1999. In 2000 Paige was awarded the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Award in Education for his efforts to improve education. He also received the 2000 National Association of Black School Educators' Superintendent of the Year Award. In 2001 he was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.

NEA

At a meeting of state governors in the White House on February 23, 2004, Paige criticized the National Education Association (NEA) for blocking the "No Child Left Behind Act", a historic reform of the education system, and called the NEA a "terrorist organization." ". He later apologized for his "unfortunate choice of words"; at the same time, however, he claimed that the NEA was using "blocking fear tactics" to prevent the law. The NEA demanded his resignation.

End of office

On November 15, 2004, Paige announced his resignation as Minister of Education. White House Household Adviser Margaret Spellings succeeded him.

Web links

Commons : Rod Paige  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Rod Paige in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)