Obama announces education chief

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US President-elect Barack Obama has announced that he will nominate Chicago schools' chief Arne Duncan to be his education secretary.

Mr Duncan has served as chief executive officer of the Chicago public school system since 2001.

Announcing Mr Duncan's selection, Mr Obama described him as "the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners".

He said failing to improve classroom instruction was "morally unacceptable for our children".

Mr Obama has already announced a large proportion of his governing team.

The most prominent appointments will be Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary. When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners Barack Obama <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7784248.stm">Washington schools at the crossroads</a>

The president-elect has yet to name his choice for secretary of the interior, although media reports suggest that Colorado Senator Ken Salazar is the frontrunner for the post.

Observers say Mr Duncan's appointment signifies an unwillingness on Mr Obama's part to side with either teachers' unions or education reformers in the ongoing debate about the future of schools policy in the US.

The education secretary-designate is popular with the education community in Chicago, but his support for merit pay for teachers is not shared by the teaching unions.