Brittany Horn is reporting in the Times Union state Education Commissioner John King Jr. has been named senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. King disclosed his upcoming move to the nation's capital Wed., Dec. 10. As New York education chief since 2011, King championed the Common Core initiative to raise state standards and pushed for expanded technical education through P-TECH schools. In his new federal role, he will help manage operations and implement initiatives in the U.S. Department of Education. King said in a statement, "As a kid whose life was saved by the incredible teachers I had in public schools in Brooklyn, I'm proud to have served my fellow New Yorkers." King was the state's first black and Puerto Rican commissioner. King has often cited the mentorship of his fourth-grade teacher, Alan Osterweil, at P.S. 276 Louis Marshall in Brooklyn for saving him after the death of both his parents. He went on to graduate from Harvard University and attend graduate school at Yale University and Columbia University, where he obtained his doctorate in education. The Board of Regents will create a search committee next week for King's successor. Read the full story in the Times Union.