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St. Paul, Minn.

Aspen Ideas Festival: Education Secretary Arne Duncan

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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Pre-school teacher Jody Bohrer and her students in Bloomington, Minn. gave U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan a poster during a classroom visit on Tuesday, July 16, 2013. At Duncan's left is Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. Duncan visited the Twin Cities to promote an Obama administration plan to boost funding for early childhood programs.
MPR Photo/Tim Post

This is back-to-school week throughout Minnesota and at the beginning of the school year hopes are always high.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan reports that high school graduation rates are at an all-time high, but nearly a million high school students drop out every year. He sized up the state of early childhood education, K-12, and the nation's colleges in an appearance at this summer's Aspen Ideas Festival.

Arne Duncan says he's dissatisfied with all the time spent preparing for and taking tests, and wants only the minimum amount of testing that will show how much kids are learning.

He told David Leonhardt of the New York Times that education could be improved if we take the politics and ideology out of the debate, and have a greater sense of national mission.