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As chief, he targeted failing schools
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As CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Arne Duncan has focused on improving struggling schools and closing those that fail -- a policy that has sometimes put him at odds with parents and the teachers union.
The one-time co-captain of Harvard's basketball team has run the country's third-biggest school district for the past seven years.
Obama spoke of his friend in glowing terms. "In just seven years, he's boosted elementary test scores here in Chicago from 38 percent of students meeting the standards to 67 percent. The dropout rate has gone down every year he's been in charge," he said.
Duncan's appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.
At least some Chicago teachers said they were disappointed with the pick, criticizing his advocacy for charter schools and accusing him of dismantling of the public school system on which so many poor children depend.
Duncan majored in sociology at Harvard, graduating magna cum laude in 1987. After graduating, Duncan played professional basketball for four years in Australia, where he also worked with children who were wards of the state. He ran an education nonprofit on Chicago's South Side before working in Chicago Public Schools.
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