{"id":436722,"date":"2025-12-10T01:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/436722\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T01:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:12:14","slug":"rod-paige-former-u-s-education-secretary-dies-at-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/436722\/","title":{"rendered":"Rod Paige, former U.S. education secretary, dies at 92"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, who helped launch the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, died Tuesday morning, according to his family. Paige was 92.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The controversial education policy that largely defined former President George W. Bush\u2019s administration under Paige\u2019s leadership scaled up the federal government\u2019s role in holding schools accountable for students\u2019 test scores. A version of the initiative was first modeled in Texas when Bush was governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paige also had strong ties to Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mississippi native served as Houston Independent School District superintendent from 1994 to 2001 after spending five years as a school board member, earning a reputation for \u201cinnovative reforms,\u201d according to Education Week<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paige, who was sworn into Houston ISD\u2019s school board in 1990, supported sweeping changes, such as expanded charter school programing, and introduced teacher incentive pay, which led to rising student test scores, according to the Houston Chronicle<\/a>. Paige\u2019s changes were collectively coined the \u201cHouston Miracle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis legacy of leadership, commitment to education, and belief in the potential of every child continues to inspire educators and leaders across generations,\u201d Houston ISD said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paige also was dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University<\/a> for a decade and head football coach and athletic director for four years starting in 1971.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A strong advocate for student education, Paige believed that the country\u2019s education system, especially Houston ISD, is in need of reform. In an editorial for the Houston Chronicle <\/a>published last year, Paige said the Texas Education Agency\u2019s takeover of Houston ISD should be seen as a \u201cplaybook for urban school transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur school systems are in dire need of a fundamental overhaul, not just piecemeal tweaks,\u201d Paige wrote. \u201cWe need more districts willing to reimagine what\u2019s possible, as HISD is doing on a scale never before seen in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Paige was appointed by Bush to serve as the seventh U.S. secretary of education, he became the first Black person to hold that position.<\/p>\n

Bush, in a statement<\/a> Tuesday, said Paige \u201cchallenged what we called \u2018the soft bigotry of low expectations.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRod worked hard to make sure that where a child was born didn\u2019t determine whether they could succeed in school and beyond,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

News of Paige\u2019s death drew tributes from across Texas.<\/p>\n

Houston Mayor John Whitmire, who was a state senator when Paige led Houston ISD, on X<\/a> called him a \u201crespected education and a dear friend\u201d who \u201ctransformed lives and opened the doors of opportunity for countless children.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis called him a \u201ctrailblazing educator, proud Houstonian, and devoted public servant\u201d on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to his wife, Stephanie Nellons-Paige, and their two children, much of Paige\u2019s footprints on the country\u2019s education system survive him. Paige created TSU\u2019s Center for Excellence in Urban Education<\/a>, which focuses on researching urban school system\u2019s operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis contributions to Texas Southern University were numerous and significant,\u201d the university said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle<\/a>. \u201cHis legacy at Texas Southern is enduring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige was dedicated to understanding and improving the country\u2019s education system long after his education career ended, and was focused on the state\u2019s takeover of Houston ISD.\u00a0
\u201cNot everything Houston tries will work, of course, and missteps and backlash are inevitable. But in education, the greater risk is not trying something drastically different,\u201d Paige wrote in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":436723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[3755,4345,6267,358,3187,17850],"class_list":{"0":"post-436722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-george-w-bush","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-isd","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-u-s-department-of-education"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115692617402024602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}