Ensuring equity and access in education must involve many stakeholders, according to Assistant Secretary Roberto Rodríguez, Planning and Policy, U.S. Department of Education.

The office advises the Secretary of Education on matters relating to policy development, implementation, and review.

WorkingNation sat down with Rodríguez at SXSW EDU in Austin.

It’s not an unfamiliar message that the pandemic has intensified the calls for action. Rodríguez says the lessons learned over the last two years are going to inform innovations in education.

He says, “I’m optimistic about our future, about the opportunity to transform our education system on the other side of this pandemic, to really be more focused on students, and to make sure that they have every opportunity that they need to be successful.”

“We’ve never seen a disruption in American education like this pandemic has provided, but we have to make sure that we’re using that as an opportunity to build something new, to re-envision, to think about how we’re bringing the different components of our system together.”

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education.
Learn more about the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.