According to the New York Times coverage of Arne Duncan's Senate confirmation hearing this morning, the education secretary-designate told Senators he'd work for "real and meaningful change" in the nation's schools, but he didn't shed much more light on how exactly that would be done, or how he'd handle the No Child Left Behind law.
When Duncan did mention NCLB, seems (to me) he walked a middle line.
According to the NYT blog post:
"I have seen the law's power and its limitations," Mr. Duncan said, but he provided no examples of concrete changes he will seek. "I agree with the president-elect that we should neither bury NCLB nor praise it without reservation."
Duncan pledged to do "anything that works" to raise academic achievement in public schools, according to the NYT, and said the new administration plans to expand early childhood programs, foster the opening of more charter schools, improve teacher training and recruitment, and increase access to college for low-income students.
The Senate seems ready to give quick approval to his nomination, according to the NYT post. You can watch Duncan's Senate confirmation hearing here and read the transcript here.