The quality of education is not a new discussion or concern across the United States; however it certainly has taken on a new dimension with the move to remote learning due to COVID-19. Depending on where you look, you will find every opinion across the great expanse of teachers and parents pleased with remote learning to those extremely dissatisfied. This is not a new concept. Many people are dissatisfied with public school and choose to home school their children or send them to a parochial or private school. Some parents offer high praise of their school districts. The sticking point is that these are all opinions. What are the facts? How do schools rank? How effective are school districts? How do we delineate between a “good” school and a “bad” school? So, as they say, who is minding the store?
In the United States that is every state and just as unique every state is, so is their educational system. The Department of Education in the United States is not granted the same oversight and influence as other countries counterparts; national educational ministries. Hamlin & Williams (2019) remind us in their article Assuring Quality in Distance Education: Accreditation, Regulation, and Movement that there is not one manager minding the store in the United States.
Under the principle of federalism, adopted by the United States, oversight of education, at all levels is reserved to the states, and institutions are licensed in each state in order to operate legally. In most states, however, the licensure process is intended to certify that institutions meet a minimum threshold of viability, and does not provide criteria for the effectiveness of educational outcomes.
The United States Department of Education has the main focus of allocating funds, data collection, providing national exposure of educational challenges, and enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws.
In creating the Department of Education, Congress specified that:
No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, over any accrediting agency or association, or over the selection or content of library resources, textbooks, or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system, except to the extent authorized by law. (Section 103[b], Public Law 96-88)
Thus, the Department does not
- establish schools and colleges;
- develop curricula;
- set requirements for enrollment and graduation;
- determine state education standards; or
- develop or implement testing to measure whether states are meeting their education standards.
These are responsibilities handled by the various states and districts as well as by public and private organizations of all kinds, not by the U.S. Department of Education.
It is interesting to note that the Department of Education does oversee accreditation of Higher Education institutes but there is no oversight, as displayed above, for K-12 programs.
Where does that leave us?
That leaves us with as many educational systems as there are states. The Department of Education refers anyone interested in state-by-state information on academic achievement to visit two National Organizations:
- The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state information on achievement, attainment, demographics, enrollment, finances and teachers at the elementary, secondary and postsecondary levels.
- The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) also known as “the Nation’s Report Card” is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas. NAEP provides information about student performance in states that choose to participate in the state-level NAEP.
Do not overlook the fact that the NAEP notes that their findings are from states that choose to participate. In the most recent data collection February 22 through March 12, 2021, 42 states participated and 3,300 of 5,000 sampled schools responded.
What about the rest? How do we extract any data from the states that won’t participate? How do we ensure our children are receiving the best education possible?
I don’t know. I do know that the last year has certainly illuminated the need for consistency and accountability. Our Nation was built on the idea of a democratic nation; a nation where no one entity holds all of the power. We were also a Nation built with only 13 states. As our Nation has grown, as our needs have changed, do we need to reconsider the role of National policy to guide our educational systems? How can we honor the rights of our States while still making sure each state is meeting expectations? How do we secure the best educational systems for each student no matter where they reside?
As usual, I walk away with more questions than answers. But as we all know, that is where change begins. When we begin to questions our institutions. When we seek answers and solutions. We we move toward a better system than ruminate in the one we have because it is all we have ever known.
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