Education At A Crossroads What Works And What S Wasted

Hearing on the education process called Education at a Crossroads. Witnesses include students, parents, teachers, administrators, and Governors about what's working in education at the local level. Witnesses: Terry Granstad, Gov., State of Iowa; Marvin Pomerantz, Iowa Commission on Educational Excellence in the 21st Century; Steve McDermott, Principal, Fontanelle, IA; Luvern Gubbels, Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Des Moines; James Hawkins, Coordinator, Cooperative Education, Norwalk (IA) Community School; and Randy Richardson, technology consultant, Loess Hill Education Agency 13, Council Bluffs, IA.

This document reports on a congressional subcommittee's review of the federal role in education. The review included visits to 15 states and testimony from more than 225 principals, teachers, and other education stakeholders. The committee's purpose was to identify the steps that lead in the direction of either excellence or failure. The subcommittee found that successful schools and school systems were not the product of federal funding but instead were characterized by parents involved in the education of their children, local control, emphasis on basic academics, and dollars spent on the classroom. The central theme of the findings is that the federal government cannot consistently replicate success stories in the form of federal programs. Rather, the government should empower parents by reducing the family federal tax burden; encourage parental choice in education; return federal elementary and secondary education funds to states and local school districts through flexible grants; use federally funded education programs only for methods backed by reliable, replicable research; streamline and consolidate federal education programs; and reform or eliminate ineffective and inefficient programs. In short, the federal government should serve education as a research and statistics- gathering agency, disseminating findings and enabling states to share best practices with each other. The report was adopted by the subcommittee by a vote along Republican-Democrat party lines of 5-2. The 17 page minority report, "Crossroads Hearings: A Republican Assault on Public Education," is printed as an appendix. (RJM)