Rod Paige was born in Monticello, Mississippi and is the son of public school educators. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University in Mississippi and earned his master’s degree and a doctorate from Indiana University. Paige first began coaching college-level athletics after school but always remained committed to public education. He later served for a decade as Dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University where he established the university’s Center for Excellence in Education. Paige later went on to become a trustee and an officer of the Board of Education of the Houston Independent District (HISD) from 1989 to 1994. He then became the superintendent of schools of HISD in 1994. Paige made HISD th
e first school district in the south to institute performance contracts modeled on those in the private sector, where some members continued employment with HISD based on their performance. He also introduced teacher incentive pay, which rewards teachers for outstanding performance and creative solutions to educational problems. On January 20, 2001, the United States Senate made Dr. Rod Paige as the 7th U.S. Secretary of Education. He is the first African-American to serve in this role. Paige is also the first school superintendent ever to serve as Secretary of Education. Paige now leads the charge for President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 that has already been passed.
Today I heard Dr. Rod Paige speak in King chapel about the United St
Example Essays Home
