Education's Neuman Resigns

Susan B. Neuman, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education and the Department of Education's point person on President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, unexpectedly resigned January 13, just days after the first anniversary of the Bush administration's new education reform plan.

Now a visiting professor at Georgetown University, Neuman says she left her job after two years because "the building part of the work was done." Her office oversaw Title I programs for at-risk students, helped build the Reading First and Early Reading First programs, and improved funding for school library grants. (See December 2001, "A Friend at the Top ," pp. 52–54.)

Neuman, who is writing a book on early literacy, says, "School librarians need to focus on how they can help with accountability," adding that it's imperative that media specialists apply for the government's Improving Literacy Through School Libraries grant program. (See "Winning the Grant Game ," pp. 52–55.) .