President Obama And Education Reform

The Obama Administration and Educational Reform seeks to situate, problematize, and bring to light the goals, accomplishments, experienced blockades, and disappointments of the Obama administration's educational policies.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of President Obama's education agenda. Obama's reforms have drawn skepticism from supporters of traditional public schools. Robert Maranto and Michael McShane believe that the Obama-era reforms have led to successful innovation in both the private and public sector.

This book offers a sophisticated overview of President Obama’s education agenda, exploring how and why education policy became national and ultimately presidential over the past seven decades. The authors argue that the Obama education agenda, though more ambitious, is broadly in line with those of recent presidencies, reflecting elite views that since substantial increases in spending have failed to improve equity and achievement, public schools require reforms promoting transparency such as the Common Core national standards, as well as market based reforms such as charter schools. While sympathetic to President Obama’s goals, the authors argue that the processes used to implement those goals, particularly national standards, have been hurried and lacked public input. The Obama administration’s overreach on school reform has sparked a bipartisan backlash. Even so, Maranto, McShane, and Rhinesmith suspect that the next president will be an education reformer, reflecting an enduring elite consensus behind school reform.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of President Obama's education agenda. Obama's reforms have drawn skepticism from supporters of traditional public schools. Robert Maranto and Michael McShane believe that the Obama-era reforms have led to successful innovation in both the private and public sector.

Introduction / Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane -- Testing and accountability: what have we learned and where do we go? / Deven Carlson -- The limits of policy for school turnaround / Ashley Jochim -- Incentives and inducements: the feds fight federalism / Patrick McGuinn -- Federal efforts to improve teacher quality / Matthew A. Kraft -- The Bush-Obama agenda for education research and innovation: major investment, mixed returns / Robert Pianta and Tara Hofkens -- Why standards produce weak reform / Tom Loveless -- Federal support for charter schooling: a presidential priority / Anna J. Egalite -- Challenging, building, and changing capacity in state education agencies / Sara E. Dahill-Brown -- Sound and fury: education and civil rights in the Bush and Obama administrations / Joshua Dunn -- Conclusion / Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane

A guide to the educational priorities and change to expect from the Obama administration Although the Obama's goals for education have been articulated in his speeches and on his website, what's missing is a picture of what these proposals mean in practice. This guide provides the articles, stories, and commentary to clarify Obama's priorities for education. The plan itself is comprehensive and covers preschool, K-12, and college-level education. Among its recommendations: expand early education, improve teacher quality, support school innovation, make math and science national priorities, address the dropout crisis, and improve college access and affordability. Compiled by Education Week-education's newspaper of record Offers information and opinion on Obama's key educational priorities Provides a listing of the President's recommendations for education from pre-school to college level Includes advice for the President from key education leaders

A Publication of the NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY CENTER In March 2010, the Obama administration released A Blueprint for Reform, setting forth its proposed revisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. If enacted, the Blueprint will shape the curriculum, standards, assessments, and accountability systems of schools throughout the nation. It will also determine how and where federal education funds will be targeted, further increase federal control over K-12 education, and increase the private-sector role in the operation of public schools. In advancing this agenda, President Obama and education secretary Arne Duncan have maintained that their Blueprint recommendations are grounded in research, and in May the U.S. Department of Education issued a set of six documents presented as summaries of the research supporting their plan. As an extension of the ongoing Think Tank Review Project, the staff and Fellows of the National Education Policy Center examine these research summaries and assess how well they represent the full body of knowledge in each of the reform areas. In The Obama Education Blueprint, prominent education policy experts from across the nation offer a comprehensive analysis of the research support for the U.S. Department of Education’s plan for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This volume is designed to provide policymakers, the media, and interested citizens with what the research actually says about the administration’s proposals.

Policy Patrons offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of decision making inside four influential education philanthropies: the Ford Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The outcome is an intriguing, thought-provoking look at the impact of current philanthropic efforts on education. Over a period of several years, Megan E. Tompkins-Stange gained the trust of key players and outside observers of these four organizations. Through a series of confidential interviews, she began to explore the values, ideas, and beliefs that inform these foundations’ strategies and practices. The picture that emerges reveals important differences in the strategies and values of the more established foundations vis-à-vis the newer, more activist foundations—differences that have a significant impact on education policy and practice, and have important implications for democratic decision making. In recent years, the philanthropic sector has played an increasing role in championing and financing education reform. Policy Patrons makes an original and invaluable contribution to contemporary discussions about the appropriate role of foundations in public policy and the future direction of education reform.