Who's in Charge Here? The Tangled Web of School Governance and Policy

by Epstein, Noel

• ISBN13: 9780815724728
• ISBN10: 0815724721
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-27
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

Behind the scenes, a revolution is taking place in primary and secondary education. Once thought sacrosanct, the principle of local lay control has come under growing attack. In the 1970s and 1980s, governors sought greater influence by promulgating academic standards and even taking over failing schools. Mayors soon followed, with some wresting control of struggling local school systems. Atop this, the president and Congress greatly extended their reach into U.S. classrooms with enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which requires annual reading and math tests in grades 3 through 8, tougher yardsticks to measure whether pupils are making sufficient progress, and penalties for schools that persistently fall short.The result is a spider's web of responsibility. It is difficult, if not impossible, to figure out where accountability lies. Not only have municipal, state, and federal authorities reasserted control over the separate education government that the nation long ago created, but an array of other institutions --including the courts, community-based organizations, and education management companies --are also deeply involved in school decisions. These trends have created a growing gap between those who make education policy and those responsible for the results. What's more, they have contributed to widespread confusion about how to fix public education. In Who's in Charge Here? some of the finest minds in education cut through the confusion to analyze key issues such as the Constitution's role in allocating responsibility for education, the pros and cons of growing federal control, how to ensure a supply of talented teachers for the underprivileged, the impact of the school-choice movement, and the expanding non-academic role of schools. Other chapters explore the history of U.S. education governance and propose principles for creating a new system that especially benefits the children who are most in need. The question of who should be in charge of America's schools is likely to occupy the nation for years to come. Based on extensive scholarship and practical experience, Who's in Charge Here? is an important contribution to this critical debate.

Author Biography

Larry Cuban is emeritus professor at Stanford University's School of Education as well as a former school superintendent and teacher Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor at Stanford University's School of Education and former executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future Noel Epstein is former education editor of the Washington Post Susan H. Fuhrman, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, is George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education. She also chairs the Consortium for Policy Research in Education Paul T. Hill, a nonresident senior fellow of Brookings, is a research professor at the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education Michael W. Kirst is a professor of education, business adminisration, and political science at Stanford University and a senior research investigator with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education Henry M. Levin is William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education James E. Ryan is a professor at the University of Virginia Law School and a former vice chairman of the American Bar Association's Committee on Public Schools Gary Sykes is a professor of educational administration and teacher education at Michigan State University's College of Education

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Who Should Be in Charge of Our Schools?	p. 1
Turning Points: A History of American School Governance	p. 14
The Tenth Amendment and Other Paper Tigers: The Legal Boundaries of Education Governance	p. 42
Recovering from an Accident: Repairing Governance with Comparative Advantage	p. 75
A Solution That Lost Its Problem: Centralized Policymaking and Classroom Gains	p. 104
Less than Meets the Eye: Standards, Testing, and Fear of Federal Control	p. 131
A Teacher Supply Policy for Education: How to Meet the "Highly Qualified Teacher" Challenge	p. 164
Multiple "Choice" Questions: The Road Ahead	p. 228
The American Kibbutz? Managing the School's Family Role	p. 256
Contributors	p. 289
Index	p. 291
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