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U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced Friday that he would leave the Obama Cabinet in December, after nearly seven years of attempting to reshape and bring more accountability to public schools and universities with a controversial emphasis on standardized testing, teacher evaluation, the value of a college degree and reducing sexual assaults on campuses. EJ

Duncan, an original member of the Obama administration and former head of Chicago Public Schools, won praise from supporters for pushing higher standards, supporting charter schools, significantly expanding federal financial aid and cracking down on corrupt for-profit colleges. Yet, he angered teachers unions and otherwise key Democratic allies with his proposals to change the way instructors are evaluated, eventually abandoning his efforts to create a ratings system for the nation’s colleges amid opposition.EJ

President Barack Obama said he would appoint Duncan’s deputy secretary, John B. King Jr., the former schools chief of New York state, to succeed Duncan.EJ

At a White House news conference, Obama praised Duncan, saying: “Arne’s done more to bring our educational system — sometimes kicking and screaming — into the 21st century more than anyone else. America is going to be better off for what he has done. It’s going to be more competitive and more prosperous. It is going to be more equal and more upwardly mobile.”

Duncan, 50, who played professional basketball overseas in his younger days, said he wanted to spend more time with his family in Chicago and did not discuss his next career move. His departure leaves Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack as the last original Cabinet member in office.EJ

Duncan was one of Obama’s major players who used executive power in response to congressional gridlock. In light of Congress’ failure to revise the No Child Left Behind Act, he offered states waivers from the school accountability law’s most stringent restrictions in exchange for signing onto some Obama-preferred education policies.

Congress “essentially ceded power to the executive branch,” said Thomas Dee, professor of education and director of the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis. “This created a lot of innovation in the field that we could study and learn from, but it also was the beginning of the sense that top-down reforms are sometimes not what people want. I really admire his commitment, but the jury is still out on his legacy.” EJ

Some of his policies faced immense pushback from Republicans who think the Obama administration has exerted too much control over the nation’s public schools and from teachers unions that resented his emphasis on holding instructors accountable for test results.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that she appreciated Duncan’s efforts to alleviate student debt, regulate for-profit colleges, boost early education and help low-income children. But, she added, “there’s no question that the Department of Education’s fixation on charters and high-stakes testing has not worked.”EJ

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chair of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions committee and a former U.S. Secretary of Education, described Duncan as “one of the president’s best appointments.”EJ

In a statement, Alexander said: “When we disagree, it is usually because he believes the path to effective teaching, higher standards and real accountability is through Washington, D.C., and I believe it should be in the hands of states, communities, parents and classroom teachers.”