OBAMA-DUNCAN

Obama-Duncan Education Agenda

Obama-Duncan Education Agenda

Introduction

Education has historically evolved from dissent and reform movements and continues to do so. Such efforts emerged early in American history and continued with limited success. Until the latter part of the 20th century, organized reform movements largely fueled by parents succeeded in changing the American educational system. This paper discusses reform of the educational system as presented under Obama-Duncan Education Agenda. Education agenda dissent from the early period of American history through the 1990s. During this portion of American educational history, students progressed from public school programs to being included in general education classrooms and the general education curriculum.

Majority of educational reform issues have been addressed by the President of U.S. and are currently immersed in a new policy environment that is driven by standards and standardization through high-stakes testing (DeBray, 2006). Despite a convoluted history, education policy is no different. For improvement and standardizing the quality delivery, educational reform has become a national priority and a serious presidential concern. This paper presents a review of two articles that present insight about the Obama-Duncan Education Agenda. These articles explore the history and nature of the relationship between the American presidency, and educational policy and reform. Article written by Stan Karp, “School Reform We cannot Believe In”, presents administrative perspective and approach to Obama-Duncan Education agenda. This article also illustrates the principal components of the agenda along with its potential impact on the public education system. Second article that reveals significant insight about the Obama-Duncan Education Agenda is “The Trojan School: How Venture Philanthropy is corporatizing K-12”.

Articles Presentation of Obama-Duncan Education Agenda

The field of education has undergone reform throughout the history of education, but particularly since the turn of the 21st century. These recent reform initiatives have been predominantly driven by Obama-Duncan Education Agenda. These initiatives have consequently influenced education quality in the state and local levels. In the area of education, the prevailing consensus was that states and local governments were the appropriate and prevailing authorities. Because the Constitution is silent on the question of education, control over it defaults automatically to the states. Article states that Obama-Duncan Education Agenda addresses states approached education system in widely varying ways, based on their particular political culture, history, level of resources, and stage of economic development.

Obama attention to educational policy reform presents the stature of the president in the domestic policy arena (Karp, 2010). When coupled with the increasing sophistication and technological demands of the American economy and the nation's postwar ascendancy in world affairs, the time was ripe for greater federal intervention in American education. Obama asserted that a right to an education is among the rights that should be guaranteed to all Americans. FDR's greatest contribution to the American educational landscape was setting the G.I. Bill of Rights into motion. Eventually this piece of public policy would see well over 2 million returning veterans attend colleges and universities (Karp, 2010). Right to education was subsequently rejected by the ...