What's Ahead in Education?: An Analysis of the Policies of the Obama Administration

185 Pages·2010·0.62 MB·English

by  William Hayes

What’s Ahead in
Education?
An Analysis of the Policies of
the Obama Administration
William Hayes
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
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Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.rowmaneducation.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by William Hayes
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hayes, William, 1938–
What’s ahead in education? : an analysis of the policies of the Obama administration /
William Hayes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60709-679-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-680-1 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-681-8 (electronic)
1. Education and state—United States. 2. United States—Politics and
government—2009– 3. Obama, Barack. I. Title.
LC89.H395 2010
379.73'0905—dc22
2010024674
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
Foreword v
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
Part I The Preparation of an Educational Leader
1 The Education of a Future President 3
2 The Chicago Years 15
3 The United States Senator 31
4 The Presidential Campaign 39
Part II The Record Thus Far
5 The Appointment of Arne Duncan 47
6 The Economic Stimulus Package and Race to the Top 57
7 Charter Schools 69
8 Pay for Performance or Merit Pay for Teachers 79
9 Early Childhood Education 91
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iv Contents
10 The National Standards Movement 101
11 The Initiatives in Higher Education and Teacher Education 113
12 Mayoral Control of Schools in Urban Districts 125
13 More Time in School 133
14 No Child Left Behind 141
Part III The Future
15 The Agenda 159
Index 169
About the Author 173
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Foreword
The president of the United States has often been described as the most pow-
erful person in the world. This important individual has four or eight years to
set policy and chart the course in a host of areas for the strongest nation, the
most stable democracy on earth.
A president’s past experience invariably shapes thoughts and attitudes
on all of the issues that must be confronted during that administration. This
is especially true of education, because every president has received some
brand of American education. Thinking about education has been important
to Americans for decades. Educational policy has been on the front burner
for most presidential administrations since the end of the Second World War.
My introduction to this phenomenon was in 1985, when I was beginning
a second doctoral degree as a relatively young academic administrator. I
had a discipline-specific doctorate in my teaching field, but after moving
into a deanship, I realized I did not have any training in educational theory
or praxis. As I began this new doctoral degree program at the University of
North Texas, I was confronted with the important report titled A Nation at
Risk, completed just two years earlier in the Reagan administration by an
eighteen-member panel under the leadership of David Gardner.
As I pursued this subject, I found that this was one of a series of educa-
tional studies commissioned by several presidents, beginning with the Tru-
man Report in 1947 and including a report in 1956 during the Eisenhower
administration by the Committee on Education beyond the High School.
Perhaps the most famous was the Kennedy administration’s Task Force on
Education in 1960. More recently, the Spellings Commission produced A Test
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vi Foreword
of Leadership in 2006, during the George W. Bush administration. The most
famous portion of that, of course, is the No Child Left Behind legislation.
It will be very interesting to see what President Obama and his adminis-
tration will do about education. In this age of globalization, with the rise of
world-class universities in many parts of the world that used to be somewhat
devoid of education, and with a number of countries pouring great percent-
ages of their national resources into all levels of education, there is increasing
concern that the United States is lagging.
This educational shortfall is only one area of concern for the Obama ad-
ministration, but it is a fundamental one, because how our country handles
education will spill over into the way we deal with all of the other major
problems that we are facing.
In this study, Professor Bill Hayes, a veteran administrator in the public
sector and now, for more than a decade, a college professor and researcher,
examines the influences on President Obama and the problems he and his
administration are confronting. History will tell us, years from now, how
successful this man will be in charting a good course for our country, but
Professor Hayes finds many clues to the future in his careful analysis.
Tracing the early years of Mr. Obama’s own education, and then carefully
documenting his short Senate career and his promises on the campaign trail,
Professor Hayes is able to begin to uncover the philosophy that guides our
forty-fourth president. In addition, he carefully analyzes the appointment of
Secretary Duncan and the Race to the Top initiative to interpret how those
factors will influence the future of our schools.
Undoubtedly, this administration will make major changes in the way edu-
cation is perceived and performed in America. Professor Hayes’ work helps
us set the stage as we watch, in the early days of this administration, what
goes on—and as we participate in this important task.
John A. Martin, ThD, PhD
President, Roberts Wesleyan College
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Acknowledgments
There are a number of people to thank for helping in the preparation of this
book. First and foremost is Lisa Dietz, a student assistant in the Teacher Edu-
cation Division at Roberts Wesleyan College. Along with typing the entire
manuscript, she has assisted in the research and the editing. Lisa has been
a true partner in this project. Several other colleagues have helped with the
preparation of the book. Marty Garland did an excellent job proofreading ev-
ery chapter. Linda Jones, our college’s director of reference and bibliographic
instruction, provided many of the sources used. With this my fourteenth book
for Rowman & Littlefield, I wish to express my thanks to the vice president
and editorial director of the education division of Rowman & Littlefield Pub-
lishing Group, Dr. Thomas Koerner, for his confidence in me as an author
and for his many valuable suggestions for my projects. Tom is a wonderful
associate. Finally, as with my previous thirteen books, my wife, Nancy, has
proofread every page and has offered helpful suggestions that have improved
the final product. I am indebted to all of these individuals for their interest
and support in the completion of this project.
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Introduction
One certainly cannot predict with precision what any leader will do in regard
to a specific policy issue. His or her actions will undoubtedly be affected by
the social, economic, and political conditions that are present at the time any
initiatives are introduced. In attempting to determine the direction of Barack
Obama’s policies in the field of education, what can be done is to study the
president’s personal experiences, his written and spoken words on the subject,
and his actions in the area prior to becoming our nation’s chief executive.
As President Obama assumed office, perhaps his biggest challenge in the
field of education was to deal with the reauthorization of the controversial
law known as No Child Left Behind. Already several years overdue for reau-
thorization, the thousand-plus-page law, which is currently impacting almost
all schools in the nation, has generated conflict at every level in our society.
Even though it is impossible to quarrel with the goal of the legislation, most
educational interest groups have developed proposals for making both major
and minor changes in the current law.
There are also a number of vocal critics who are more than ready to get rid
of the legislation entirely. Because public education has historically been the
responsibility of state and local government, there is a lack of agreement in
our nation as to what role the federal government should be playing in this
area. The reauthorization of No Child Left Behind is only one of the potential
educational reforms that will be considered during the Obama presidency.
During his political career, before becoming president, there were many clear
signs as to his views on education. I will attempt to identify the major policy
initiatives the president is proposing and examine the arguments surrounding
each issue.
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