The Obama Administration's Education Agenda (House Committee on Education and Labor)
Context: Last week President Obama released the administration's Fiscal Year 2010 budget request which seeks to expand and create innovative education reforms addressing critical needs in early childhood, K-12 and higher education. The President's budget request builds upon the groundwork laid out in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which makes available nearly $100 billion for education reform. Based upon Recovery Act goals and the FY2010 budget request, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on May 20th for Education Secretary Arne Duncan to outline the Obama administration's comprehensive education agenda .
Testimony Summary: The committee invited Education Secretary Arne Duncan to testify on the President's education agenda and outline key areas of reform. Chairman Miller and Ranking Member McKeon set the stage for the hearing by identifying key areas of concern and opportunity in education reform. Opening remarks focused heavily on ARRA and the opportunity that this presents for states to set the stage for innovation, specifically with regard to teacher effectiveness and merit pay, expansion of charter schools, and turning around the nation's lowest performance schools.
Prior to beginning his remarks, Secretary Duncan commended the committee for holding a hearing on school safety issues and that the Department intends to begin monitoring how states are using seclusion and restraint in public schools. Duncan stated that school safety has to be the number one priority before anyone can even begin to address and focus on improving education.
Secretary Duncan outlined the President's education agenda by reinforcing the groundwork that ARRA has laid out to reform education from early childhood through post-secondary education as well as fill gaps in local and state budgets. Secretary Duncan assured the committee that the Department will scrutinze state's plans for using State Fiscal Stabilization Funds and Race to the Top funds to ensure that states use these funds for innovative reforms and are committed to meeting the policy assurances.
The Secretary outlined specific FY2010 budget requests, speaking on the expansion and creation of programs in early childhood, K-12 and higher edcuation, including the preschool and literacy programs, and funding the Institute of Education Sciences to build additional knoweldge of what works. The Secretary also highlighted the siginificant increase in Title I funds for School Improvement and the expansion of the charter schools program with a goal of turning around 1,000 of the lowest performing schools each year for the next five years.
Lastly, the Secretary outlined the Administration's plan to reform student aid and increase the accessibility and affordability of higher education. Duncan identified three priority areas; to move the Pell Grant program to a mandatory, appropriated entitlement, address the structural challenges of the FFEL program, and significantly increase funding for the Perkin's Loan program.
Discussion Focus: Committee members expressed concerns on mulitple issues during the hearing, but focused the majority of their questions towards Secretary Duncan on the following:
- Identifying effective strategies for turning around the nation's lowest performing schools;
- Identifying comprehensive dropout prevention and student engagement strategies; and
- Identifying effective strategies to increase the number of highly effective teachers in the lowest performing schools and in hard-to-staff subject areas.
Several committee members asked the Secretary to comment on innovative and effective strategies to reach the administration's goal of turning around the bottom 1% of the nation's schools, as well as how districts and states can better forge relationships with unions to address this challenge. The Secretary is urging states to utilize bold innovative reforms to tackle this challenge, such as providing incentives to highly qualified teachers, closing failing schools, and creating partnerships with successful charter operators. Additionally, the Secretary commented on the need for ESEA reauthorization to include differentiated interventions for schools and districts not meeting AYP, and refining classifications as current categories do not account for schools and districts making progress.
Committee questioning also focused on effective and comprehensive dropout prevention strategies and student engagemenet strategies. The Secretary outlined the administration's plan to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone model across the country by creating promise neighborhoods, increasing the menu of extra-curricular options available to students, and giving students exposure to the postsecondary world through expansion of such programs as dual enrollment and GEAR UP.
The Secretary identified the need to reward and incentivize highly qualified teachers and school leaders based on performance, as well as providing collaborative awards to all adults in the school building. In addition to merit pay, Secretary Duncan also identified the expansion of alternative certification programs, such as Troops to Teachers, as a successful strategy to more effectively distribute the number of highly qualified teachers.
Analysis: The Administration's focus on school turnaround efforts, effective distribution of highly qualified teachers, and bold, innovative reforms in early childhood, K-12 as well as higher education appear to mirror the issues and concerns raised bi-parisanly by Commiteee members. Bi-partisan Congressional interest, coupled with ARRA policy assurances and unprecedented resources through ARRA and FY2010 budget, as well as the Administration's focus on challenging the status quo and building state and district capacity to implement reform provides an opportunitistic moment in the coming year leading up to ESEA reauthorization.