Unless Duncan is willing to reinvent himself, the national agenda he will develop for education embodies and exacerbates these problems and, as such, it will leave a lot more kids behind than it helps.
Well, if the point is to help them, it doesn't look good. But if the point is to produce 'disciplined bodies' (so much Foucault in this piece) or productive citizens in a narrow sense, perhaps Arne is the man for the job. Seems likely higher ed will have to continue undoing the damage for the ones lucky enough to get there, if it's more of the corporate, test-driven model on offer.
Interesting article about lessons that can be learned from non-American educational systems. This article focuses primarily on the educational systems in Finland, with an emphasis on teacher autonomy.