Known as a unifier who earned his chops in a rapid rise through the education ranks – from fourth-grade teacher, to principal, assistant superintendent, and Connecticut education commissioner – Miguel Cardona was expected to be confirmed March 1 as the U.S. Secretary of Education. The Biden administration choice of Dr. Cardona as a conciliatory tone-setter was a smart move, says Jonathan Zimmerman, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. A teachers union leader or someone aligned with the pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform, he says, “would have been a sort of prima facie statement that we’re going with one [ideological] side or the other.”