Exam 15: Education Policy: Reading, Writing and Reform

For over fifty years there have been various crises in American education. Today, that crisis seems more real than ever. Resources (financial and people)are stretched and declining, test scores are stagnant, more students than ever have physical and mental health challenges, and parent support is waning. You are your governor's education advisor and you must develop a five point plan to improve education. What would you recommend?

Approximately fifteen percent of all teachers quit their jobs each year.

Some evidence of the performance of students and American schools can be seen in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)scores and American College Test (ACT)scores, where

A Nation at Risk was a report published by the National Commission on Excellence in Education that lamented the erosion of the educational foundations of American society.

A foundation program is a means of state education funding that allocates very different levels of funding to school districts in the state.

Currently, more than $850 billion is spent on elementary and secondary education by the states and localities.

Education consumes more of state and local governments' budgets than any other service.

Day-to-day operating authority for public education is delegated by states to

Day-to-day operating authority for public schools is delegated to local governments in all but two states.

The trend toward greater state involvement in public education in all fifty states was brought on in recent times by

In 1966, the Coleman Report first discovered that family and sociological backgrounds of students were the most influential factors in education performance. These findings have been reconfirmed in over 100 additional studies.

Business leaders have

What has been the traditional federal role in primary and secondary education? What were the reasons behind, and the nature of, the enlarged role of the national government in the field in the 1960s and 1970s? What happened in the intervening years and what did the Clinton administration do to enlarge or deemphasize that role? The Bush administration implemented the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)program. Has this program lived up to its expectations? Now President Obama and the Congress have appropriated $100 billion for local education. Will this help improve education, or will it be more of the same?

The gradual decline in the quality of teachers is partly attributable to changes in the nature of the workforce.

What is the proper role for the state in the provision of education? To answer the question, describe both the historical role for the states and localities, and how those roles have evolved over time. Finally, discuss the trade-offs in having the states have more power relative to local jurisdictions.

In 2010, the variation in average teacher salaries in the fifty states was from

President George W. Bush worked closely with Congress in 2002 to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, an educational program designed to hold schools, teachers, and students accountable. The law has

The federal government expanded its support for local education from 4.4 percent in 1960 to 9 percent in 1980

The coalition known as the education establishment was fractured, in part, by

An important principle of education policy is that state political power and control follow