The chief state school officers in both Oregon and South Dakota are leaving their posts.
Melody Schopp, South Dakota’s education secretary, said she will retire in December, an announcement that came while her department deals with allegations that it ignored warnings about potential misuse of federal funds. Hired in 2011, she is one of the nation’s longest-serving state superintendents.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s chief, Salaam Noor, resigned this month, amid stagnant state test scores, one of the lowest graduation rates in the country, and an increasingly hostile political climate. He was hired a little more than two years ago.
The average tenure of state chiefs has rapidly declined in recent years, to around two years, alarming policymakers and practitioners as state departments take on even more responsibilities under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
