On December 22, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden announced that Dr. Miguel A. Cardona, a former public school classroom teacher and the current Connecticut Education Commissioner, will be nominated to serve as the 12th Secretary of Education.

According top a press release, as states and school districts struggle to meet students’ needs due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Cardona will make getting students of all ages and in every community back in the classroom safely a national priority — working with Congress and local, state, and tribal leaders to secure the funding and strong public health measures needed towards safely reopening the majority of schools within the first 100 days of the new administration. He will also strive to eliminate long-standing inequities and close racial and socioeconomic opportunity gaps — and expand access to community colleges, training, and public four-year colleges and universities to improve student success and grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class.

Dr. Cardona currently serves as Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education — the first Latino to hold the position. He began his career educating and inspiring Connecticut’s youth as a fourth-grade teacher in Meriden’s public school system, the same school district he attended as a child. Dr. Cardona became the youngest school principal in the state at age 28, serving in the position for 10 years before taking on a role addressing the district’s performance and evaluation process and ultimately rising to the position of assistant superintendent. His leadership during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis helped make Connecticut the first state in the nation to ensure that every one of its public school students has a laptop and a high-speed internet connection to engage in remote learning — a key driver in preventing lost school time and closing persistent equity and opportunity gaps.

In addition to teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Educational Leadership, Dr. Cardona served as the Co-Chairperson on the Connecticut Legislative Achievement Gap Task Force and the Connecticut Birth to Grade Three Leaders Council. Dr. Cardona earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University, and his masters in bilingual/bicultural education and his doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut.

To read more on Dr. Cardona, click here.