In times of uncertainty it is good to have like-minded friends in high places. ARC ally, Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO of The Schott Foundation for Public Education, is definitely one to count on. Jackson was recently picked to serve on the President-Elect’s 13-member Education Policy Transition Work Group. The focus of the Policy Working Groups will be to develop the priority policy proposals and plans from the Obama Campaign for action during the Obama-Biden Administration. As you can see from the Compact for Racial Justice video, Jackson is not one to mince words about the need to place racial equity at the center of an education reform agenda. A supporter of the Compact, Jackson, along with Linda Darling-Hammond –who is also the Director of the Transition Work Group on Education— contributed their knowledge to the Compact Education essay. A cloud of uncertainly around education reform seems to have formed with President-elect Obama’s selection of Chicago’s Arne Duncan for Secretary of Education. With friends and foes on all sides of the spectrum, Duncan appears to be a wild card in the national education reform strategy. This makes Jackson and Darling-Hammond positioning especially critical considering. You can send a mandate for justice and support a pro-active agenda for education by signing the Compact for Racial Justice Pledge here. Watch this video of the entire Compact for Racial Justice plenary at the Facing Race Conference and listen to John Jackson’s comments.