 U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to step down from his Cabinet position by the end of the year, leaving the Obama administration more than a year before the president’s term will end. [Read Duncan’s e-mail to his staff, announcing his decision] 
 
 “He’s done more to bring our educational system, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the 21st century than anyone else,” President Obama said as he announced Duncan’s resignation at the White House on Friday afternoon. “America will be better off for what he has done.” 
 
 Obama has chosen John B. Duncan is stepping down in December after 7 years in the Obama administration.... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this April 10, 2014 file photo, John King, Jr. speaks to students at New York University's Wagner School in New York. Duncan was able to cajole and convince states to adopt his favored policies by taking advantage of two powerful tools: competitive federal grants known as Race to the Top and waivers that excused states from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, a federal law widely disliked by states. “A teacher in Anacostia is a very different job than teaching in Northwest D.C. ... No teaching job is ever easy, but there are very, very different degrees of difficulty.” 
 
 Salaries in the most challenging schools should be high enough to reward the teachers who choose to work there, and attract others to come, he said. We are incredibly grateful.” 
 
 Progress for the nation’s K-12 students has been uneven during Duncan’s tenure. High school graduation rates are at an all-time high while dropout rates are down. A lengthy effort to come up with a federal plan to rate colleges on measures of value and access was derailed, but Duncan last month unveiled an alternative: a Web site called College Scorecard that publishes information about graduation rates and average salaries of alumni at thousands of schools. Duncan’s move from Washington to Chicago — where he grew up and later was the head of the Chicago Public Schools — appears to have been in the making for some time. “Our nation’s public schools are majority minority,” Duncan said after his speech. When the family’s move was announced in July, Dorie Nolt, Duncan’s spokeswoman, released this statement: 
 
 After more than six years living just outside Washington, D.C., Secretary Duncan’s family moved back to Chicago recently. A basketball player at Harvard University who played professionally in Australia, Duncan was once a regular in Obama's weekend basketball games. Before Boehner announced that he will leave Congress at the end of October, the chances for passage of a new law were “maybe 50-50,” Duncan said Wednesday after delivering a speech at the National Press Club. This isn’t just the right thing to do for the black community ... this is the right thing to do for our country.” 
 
 During the Q and A portion of his appearance, Duncan argued that much of the inequity in public schools stems from the way schools are funded. In his senior Education Department role with the peculiar title of delegated deputy secretary, King oversees preschool through high school education and manages the department's operations. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is stepping down in December after 7 years... (Associated Press) 
 
 In an email to his staff, Duncan said he's returning to Chicago to live with his family. He said he isn't sure what he will do next, but that he hopes his future will "continue to involve the work of expanding opportunity for children." What gives me peace with this decision, and I hope comes as a reassurance to everyone here, is the extraordinary talent of John and our leadership team. John comes to this role with a record of exceptional accomplishment as a lifelong educator – a teacher, a school leader, and a leader of school systems, most recently as Commissioner of Education in New York State before he joined our team. “They could not find American teachers, American born, to work on that reservation,” Duncan said. ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Kathleen Hennessey contributed to this report.
– At the end of the year, Arne Duncan is stepping down as Education Secretary after seven years. According to a letter to staff that was obtained by the AP and confirmed by a White House official, Duncan is going back to Chicago to be with his family. Duncan, 50, has been the longest-serving secretary of education, according to the Washington Post, which just days ago reported on a speech Duncan gave calling on the US to fix education inequality: "Our K-12 system is basically funded at the local level. We are so property-tax-based throughout the nation, in far too many places, the children of wealthy get far more spent on them than the children of the poor. Until we get uncomfortable with that, we’re going to continue to have huge disparities." In his letter, Duncan calls his decision to retire in December "bittersweet," writing, "It’s with real sadness that have come to recognize that being apart from my family has become too much of a strain, and it is time for me to step aside and give a new leader a chance." That new leader will, at least for a time, be John King Jr., who is currently the deputy secretary. According to the AP, President Obama wants King to be the acting secretary for the rest of Obama's term, but is not planning to nominate King, or anyone else, to be secretary. That will allow the president to avoid "a nomination fight in Congress," the AP notes, though Senate Republicans may resist the "unconventional approach." An official announcement from the White House is expected Friday afternoon.