Education advocates protested U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's appearance in Chicago today, accusing him of misguidedly supporting charter schools and callously shutting down traditional public schools.

Duncan spoke at a breakfast of Advance Illinois, a nonprofit advocacy group that focuses on education policy around the state. He praised Illinois policymakers for their efforts at education reform, and he said the federal government wants to work with the state to make positive use of its share of $100 billion in nationwide education funding.

"We want to be a good partner with you," Duncan said inside the Hyatt Regency Chicago. "We have to use this money to be creative, to be innovative."

Outside, several dozen protesters carried signs such as one that said, "Duncan is flunkin.'"

Duncan's past attempts at innovation have angered his detractors. As Chicago Public Schools' chief executive officer, he spearheaded an aggressive "turnaround" program that closed or installed new leadership at failing schools. He also supported Renaissance 2010, an initiative led by Mayor Richard M. Daley to start new, privately-run schools in the district.

"He's saying it's the Chicago miracle," said Jackson Potter, co-chair of the Caucus of Rank and File Teachers. "We're saying it's the Chicago disaster."

Potter, demonstrating outside the hotel, claims the turnaround and Renaissance programs have hurt the school system more than they have helped it, by marginalizing minority groups and chipping away at the foundation of the public school system.

"We find black teachers being fired at an alarming rate, students being pushed out because they don't look good for test scores, and parents' voices getting lost as local school councils are dismantled," he said. Potter's group recently filed a lawsuit that made some of those allegations.

During his speech, Duncan acknowledged that the turnaround program is controversial, and that few, if any, school districts in the country have embarked on such a radical course of school closings or reform. The program has continued under Ron Huberman, the district's new chief executive.

"Our children have one chance to get a great education," Duncan said. "We have to step in and do something dramatically different."

Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, made a similar call for reform at the today's breakfast.

"It's time for a paradigm shift," Steans said.

She said it is time to move away from state mandates and allow local school districts to develop their own initiatives. The federal government should direct funds to meet local needs, she said, and base that funding on performance and results.

Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, questioned the success of Renaissance 2010 schools compared to their traditional counterparts.

"He's not telling the truth about what's going on in Chicago," Woestehoff said about Duncan. "Beyond that, he's very vague about the standards he's holding his own reforms to."

She cited one example Duncan used to highlight effective reform during his speech, North Lawndale College Prep, a charter in one of Chicago's poorest communities.

According to 2007 Illinois records, 77 percent of students who graduated from the school enrolled in college or other post-secondary education. But only 64 percent of freshman at the school graduate within five years. In 2008, the school failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind standards, which require most students to pass state achievement exams.