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USA: Context, principles and reforms

1.2 Purposes of education
1.2.1 Aims, objectives, values, principles

General/national
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Wisconsin

1.2.2 Special programmes

National
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts 
Wisconsin

1.2 Purposes of education

1.2.1 Aims, objectives, values, principles

General/national

The United States of America is a confederation of states, each with considerable autonomy. Responsibility for education is devolved to the state/district level. However, on a national level, the United States Congress has enacted several pieces of legislation affecting states, communities and schools.⁸

The main piece of education legislation - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) ³ - is re-authorised every five years or so, under a specific title. In 1994, for example, it was re-authorised as the Improving America's Schools Act and, in 1999, as the Educational Excellence for All Children Act ¹ . In addition, there are national education reform strategies which are signed into law. These include the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and President George W Bush's 2002 No Child Left Behind Act. This was due for renewal in 2010 - further information is provided in section 1.2.2.

Goals 2000: Educate America Act
In 1989, the governors of all the USA states committed themselves to a nationwide effort to reform education around a core set of aspirations. They developed and agreed on six goals for improving the education system that would guide their efforts. These original six national goals, with the addition of two more, were formalised into law with the passage of the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act" in 1992. This promoted 'safe and disciplined schools that use best teaching practices and appropriate technology to ensure that all students are adequately prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century'.¹¹⁰

The goals were that, by the year 2000:

• All children in America would start school ready to learn.
• The high school graduation rate would increase to at least 90 per cent.
• All students would leave Grades 4, 8 and 12 (aged 10, 14 and 18 respectively), having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography, and every school in America would ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they are prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning and productive employment in the nation's modern economy.
• The nation's teaching force would have access to programmes for the continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all American students for the next century.
• United States' students would be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.
• Every adult American would be literate and possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
• Every school in the United States would be free of drugs, violence and the unauthorised presence of firearms and alcohol and offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
• Every school would promote partnerships to increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional and academic growth of children.⁸

Establishing national education goals was seen as a critical step in developing a nationally integrated accountability system with a strong emphasis on performance. Policy makers believed that schools had become increasingly dominated by rules and procedures demanded by districts and states. The setting of national goals, especially those related to participation, retention and 'outcomes' in terms of student achievement, was designed to enhance the managerial and professional autonomy of schools, colleges and universities by placing the focus on the end product: the results obtained.²⁴ 

Educational Excellence for All Children Act
In 1999, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was re-authorised as the Educational Excellence for All Children Act.¹ This built on the 1994 re-authorisation of the ESEA and the Goals 2000: Educate America Act for kindergarten to Grade 12 education and aimed to help all children achieve to challenging standards.  It emphasised the need to move the reform effort from state to school, expanding efforts to improve teacher quality and ensure accountability for results ¹⁰¹ and aimed specifically to:

• Raise student performance by increasing academic standards. Individual states were required to establish content standards, student performance standards, and assessments aligned with the standards by the 2000-01 school year.
• Implement continuous improvement and accountability based on challenging standards. States were required to hold all school districts accountable, and school districts to hold schools accountable, for continuous and substantial gains in overall student performance and in the performance of the lowest-performing students.
• Provide teachers with up-to-date training and support through a new "Teaching to High Standards" initiative.
• Through the "Technology for Education Initiative" to put useful technology into schools and classrooms to help teachers teach to high standards.
• Strengthen the teaching of reading and reduce class size (see 1.2.2 for details of the class size reduction initiative).
• Emphasise maths and science education.
• Improve foreign language instruction by setting a national goal that 25 per cent of all public elementary schools should offer high-quality, standards-based foreign language programmes by the year 2005, rising to 50 per cent by 2010.¹⁰²

No Child Left Behind
Following the formal election of George W Bush as President of the United States in January 2001, the process of enactment of the Bush reform strategy for education began. Known as "No Child Left Behind", the Bill was formally approved in December 2001 and signed into existence on 8 January 2002. See the No Child Left Behind website at http://www.nclb.gov/.

The final shape of the No Child Left Behind legislation was determined at the state level, as states developed their responses to the legislation, but the Bill included, amongst others, provisions for:

• Increased statutory national testing.  It was intended that, with effect from autumn 2005, every student throughout the USA in Years 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of compulsory education would have to take tests in maths and reading and, in some Grades, in science.
• Improvements for failing schools.  Measures proposed under the Bill included additional funds for improvement for failing schools; and federal assistance for tutoring, summer school programmes, or for the provision of other educational services for children in failing schools. In addition, since September 2002, schools identified as low-performing have been required to pay transportation costs for their students who choose to attend higher performing schools within the district.
• Ensuring that, by the end of the 2005-06 school year, all teachers in publicly-funded schools (existing teachers and/or new recruits) were "highly qualified". ¹⁵²
• Increased spending on literacy programmes, such as Reading First - a focused nationwide effort to enable all students to become successful early readers. Through the programme, federal funds are provided to assist states and local school districts in establishing high quality, comprehensive reading instruction in kindergarten to Grade 3 (for 5+ to 8/9-year-olds) (http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/reading/readingfirst.html). 

In addition, a goal to improve the academic proficiency of students who are poor, who speak limited English, or who have various disabilities was set. ¹⁵² 

Further information is available via the No Child Left Behind website for parents and the public: http://www.nclb.gov/.

Pre-primary education
Pre-primary education in the United States of America aims to prepare young children socially and academically for the first Grade (Year 1 of compulsory elementary school education, age 6+).⁸⁷

Elementary and secondary education
Elementary and secondary education provide a foundation of basic skills to prepare young people to become productive members of society.⁸⁷

Post-secondary education (post-high school education)
Post-secondary education aims to provide a wide range of options for individuals to gain advanced knowledge and skills either immediately after high school or later in life.⁸⁷

Kentucky

The state of Kentucky has adopted the following mission and philosophy to guide its education decision-making:

The mission of the Kentucky Department of Education, as the national catalyst for educational transformation, is to ensure for each child an internationally superior education and a love of learning through visionary leadership, vigorous stewardship, and exemplary services in alliance with schools, school districts, and other partners.

Philosophy. We believe that all children can learn at high levels, and that they ... possess a curiosity and desire to learn;....respond positively to success and enthusiasm;....develop and learn at different rates;....demonstrate learning in different ways. We believe that successful schools are for students, and they...expect a high level of achievement; ...provide the time and instruction to achieve student success;...provide connections with home and community experiences;...ensure a safe, positive environment;.....create opportunities to explore and grow. We further believe that effective instruction facilitates learning, and it addresses identified academic expectations; ...assures success and risk taking; ...employs a variety of effective techniques to address learning diversity;....aligns curriculum, instruction, and assessment;....connects curricular offerings to the life experiences of students;....encourages self-direction and life-long learning.⁸

Maryland

The state of Maryland is guided by three fundamental premises, as follows:

• All children can learn.
• All children have the right to attend schools in which they can progress and learn.
• All children shall have a real opportunity to learn equally rigorous content.⁸

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) vision statement is that it exemplifies energetic leadership and innovative products and services to improve public education, library services, and rehabilitation services.  Further information is available online.

Massachusetts

The Department of Education has one principal goal:

• to help children learn.

By working together with school leaders, parents, teachers, students, business people and other community members, we will have success in helping students learn the knowledge and skills they need to have in order to serve themselves, their families, and their communities in the 21st century.⁷⁸

Wisconsin

The mission of Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction is:

under the leadership and direction of the elected state superintendent, to advance the cause of public education and public libraries, and supervise public schools so that all school age children have access to high quality educational programmes that meet high standards of excellence, and all citizens have access to comprehensive public library resources and services. ¹²²

In summary, the goals are that:

• All students should be able to achieve challenging academic standards to prepare them for further learning and employment.
• Education should build a solid foundation for learning for all children.
• Education should help all students become caring, contributing, responsible citizens.
• Teachers in every classroom should be talented, dedicated and well-prepared.
• All citizens should have equitable access to comprehensive public library resources and services.
• The Department of Public Instruction should be a high-performance organisation, focusing on results, service quality and customer satisfaction.¹²⁴

1.2.2 Special programmes

National

Re-authorisation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
America's key piece of education legislation - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) - is due for renewal.  The 2010 budget request for the Department of Education elementary and secondary education programmes supports a comprehensive plan for the reauthorisation of the ESEA. Key priorities and principles guiding the renewal include:

• Positive incentives and recognition of and rewards for success including funds for the 'Race to the Top' (see below) and 'Investing in Innovation (i3)' initiatives. Additional competitive funding streams to allow more funds to be focused on programmes that are achieving successful results.
• Expectations that the school system will focus on producing students who are college- and career-ready (CCR) and implement high-quality assessments that are aligned with CCR standards and measure individual student growth toward those standards.
• States being expected to set clear standards for effective teaching and to design evaluation systems that fairly and rigorously differentiate between teachers on the basis of effectiveness. The request also supports a restructuring of the ESEA to more effectively recruit, prepare, support, reward, and retain effective teachers and school leaders
• Restructuring of ESEA programme authorities.  ¹⁹⁸

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Another key piece of legislation of the Obama Presidency is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) 2009.  ARRA is an economic stimulus package which makes funding available to counteract the effects of the economic crisis.  Spending funds for education are intended to lay the foundations for reforms and save teaching jobs at risk as a result of reductions in state and local budgets. The funding guidelines require commitments from states to collect, publish, analyse and act on a range of information including the quality of classroom teachers, annual student progress and the effectiveness of state standards and assessments. The guidelines also require disclosure of the number of jobs saved and the amount of state and local tax increases averted as a result of the funding. Funding will be provided in three rounds, with the third round of grants for states which have made most progress on reforms. ¹⁹⁷

Amongst the programmes funded by ARRA is 'Race for the Top'.  This is a competitive funding process in which states have developed applications to indicate how they will address four key Pre-kindergarden to Grade 12 education areas (children aged 3/4 to 18):

• Adopting internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace.
• Recruiting, developing, retaining and rewarding effective teachers and principals.
• Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices.
• Turning around America's lowest performing schools.¹⁹⁹

The funding is intended to provide incentives to states to implement large-scale reforms which are system-changing.  Some of the recent legislation described below (under the individual state sub-headings) is being made in order to qualify states for Race to the Top funding.  Further information is available on the Race to the Top website.

States to develop common standards
Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have announced plans to create common standards for literacy and mathematics for children from Kindergarten to Grade 12 (ages 5 to 18). The standards will not include any prescription of  teaching methods and as yet there has been little or no discussion of common assessment mechanisms.  They define the knowledge and skills students should have to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programmes. 

Further information is available online.  

Education priorities of the Obama presidency
The vision for education in the Obama administration begins with demanding greater reform and accountability, asking parents to take greater responsibility for their children's success, and recruiting and retaining more teachers. More specific priorities outlined by President Obama include:

• increasing the funding of specific early years education programmes;
• making pre-school education, which will prepare children for entry to Kindergarten (usually at age five), universally available;
• improving student assessment and school accountability;
• providing more after-school opportunities;
• providing more summer schools for disadvantaged pupils;
• recruiting more mathematics and science graduates into teaching;
• improving teachers' salaries.  ¹⁹⁶ 

Kentucky
Legislation introduced to tackle persistently low performing schools
New legislation which provides definitions for activities and processes that will be implemented in schools that are defined as 'persistently low achieving' has been passed in Kentucky.  'Persistently low achieving' schools are those performing badly on state academic tests. Since the release of the 2010 state assessments in reading and writing, such schools have had to select one of four intervention options:

• day-to-day management of the school is transferred to an external organisation;
• re-staffing which includes replacing up to 50 per cent of teachers and the principal and school management team and the implementation of an agreed action plan;
• school closure and the transfer of students to other schools that are meeting their accountability measures and reassignment of staff within the district;
• replacing the school principal and school council members and the institution of a set of specified strategies designed to turn around the school. ¹⁹²

Maryland
Reform of Maryland's public school system
As part of Maryland's application for Race for the Top funding, the State Governor is preparing to introduce reforms.  The Education Reform Act 2010 includes the following:

• it increases the amount of time before a teacher is eligible for tenure from two to three years;
• requires schools to provide mentors to new teachers who are in danger of not achieving tenure.  School districts would provide added professional development;
• makes data on student growth a "significant component" of teacher evaluations.

In addition, if the state wins Race to the Top money high-performing teachers and administrators who move to the lowest-achieving public schools will receive incentive pay. ¹⁹⁴

Details of other programmes and initiatives provided by the Maryland State Department of Education are available online. 

Masschussetts
Legislation to tackle under performing schools
New legislation aims to turn around underperforming schools, promote innovation and choice and eliminate achievement gaps.  The legislation includes the following provisions:

• it establishes the first innovation schools to serve as in-district charter schools developed and managed at the local level to implement autonomy and flexibility in how students are educated to the state's high standards;
• it authorises new approaches to underperforming and chronically underperforming schools by giving the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education and Superintendents the power to make the changes necessary to allow for rapid improvement;
• caps the number of charter schools and limits providers to those who have a proven track record.

These reforms aim to help the State's bid for federal Race to the Top funding. ¹⁹⁵

'Readiness schools' initiative

Since autumn 2010, some districts in Massachussetts have been receiving grants to establish 'readiness schools'.  These will have increased flexibility and autonomy in one or more of the following key areas: curriculum, budget, staffing, organisation of school time, and school district policies. Readiness schools can be developed as new schools or conversions of existing schools and each school will operate under a performance contract that sets specific goals for student achievement and school improvement. The initiative will support three types of readiness schools:

• advantage schools - in which school leaders will be responsible for developing an 'innovation plan' and performance contract for the school;
• alliance schools - in which external partners such as colleges, museums and other organisations will play a central role in developing the innovation plan and will be held accountable for meeting the terms of the performance contract; and
• accelerating schools - conversions of underperforming schools implemented through innovation plans and performance contracts developed by the State Education Commissioner.¹⁹³

Wisconsin
Childcare rating system
A new five-star quality rating and improvement system for childcare is being introduced in Wisconsin.  YoungStar sets a rating system for childcare providers based on education, learning environment, business practices and the health and well being of children.  The amount of payment made through the childcare subsidy programme is linked to a provider's quality rating, with the best providers receiving the most funding.  The Wisconsin Department for Children and Families will also make the rating information available to parents to help them make decisions about childcare providers. This rating system is expected to be implemented from July 2011.²⁰¹

New student assessment system
A new system for student assessment is to be introduced to replace the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) (see section 6.2), which assess students in Grades 3 to 8 (age 8 to 14) and Grade 10 (15/16) in core academic areas. The new system aims to give a fuller picture of students' progress. It will combine state, district and classroom assessments and aims to be more responsive to students, teachers and parents. New assessments at elementary and middle school level are likely to be computer-based and to offer opportunities to benchmark student progress during the school year.  WKCE remains in use as the new system is further developed.  ²⁰¹

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