Nancy Kober of the Center on Education Policy released A Public Education Primer: Basic (and Sometimes Surprising) Facts about the U.S. Education System. This new report “provides a comprehensive picture” of the nation’s public schools facts about how things have changed, and will continue to change. The report addresses these questions:
· Who are the students?
· Where are the students?
· Who controls public education?
· How are public schools funded?
· How well are students achieving?
· What is the public school teaching force like?
· What other services do public schools provide?
Kudos to those who address these questions.
A caution to those who consider U.S. public education. It is not a system, and never has been a system. It’s hard to tell, if mentioning U.S. public education as a single system infers a political agenda or an editorial error.
Also, public education is not the same as public schooling. The former has broader implications than learning the three Rs.
Education has a generic meaning of someone preparing to go beyond their environment. Schooling as practiced in many places has a generic meaning of requiring people to adapt to their environment.
Historically, each state has responsibility for public school called education in the U.S. That means, at least 50 public schooling systems exist.
In turn, states delegate with strings responsibility for operating public schools to local school districts.
States and local districts may (voluntarily) apply to the Federal government for funding to supplement state and other funding. Federal money also has strings attached that grantees agree to honor. This funding does not constitute a de facto U.S. education system.
However funded, ultimate responsibility for public education in the U.S. resides with each state, not with the Federal government or with local school districts, in spite of conventional wisdom, political posturing, and media lore.
What does this fact of responsibility mean for individuals? Express your interests to local school and Federal officials, yes. But, the people responsibile for local schools remain state officials, so keep in touch with them about schooling issues of concern to you.
I haven’t yet read the report. I want to let you know about it promptly. Now, I’ll read it.
I wonder if Kober addresses the use of electronic teaching and learning, say with Tablet PCs, in public schools?