House Education Committee Begins Full Hearings: ESEA

House Education Committee Begins Full Hearings: ESEA

The recent Federal Update from Brustein and Manasevit (21111 Brustein & Manasevit.pdf) reports the House Committee on Education convened its first full hearing since Republicans gained a majority in the House.  Opening remarks by the Republican Chairman and Ranking Member for the Democrats were similar by lamenting that American students have fallen behind other nations and that employers, including the military, find that recent high school graduates lack the basic skills for hiring.  Both agreed that ESEA needs major revisions and that reauthorization needs to happen “this year”.  Following the opening statements, the Committee heard statements from four witnesses: a state superintendent from Indiana and three persons representing private education organizations.

I find it interesting that employers are finding high school graduates unprepared to hire. During the last ten years there has been significant involvement and influence nationwide of industry and business representatives in setting the agenda for education.  Many states adopted standards and benchmarks that reflected what corporate leaders said students needed to learn to enter the workforce and keep America competitive.  What happened? I still hear parent complaints that their high school graduate cannot balance a checkbook or manage a budget (but they sure know how to navigate the social networks). As I have mentioned in a previous Blog (and one Committee witness reinforced) teachers have played a limited role in influencing the direction of education and “are often overruled by national organizations with broader interests”.  There appears to me to be an emphasis on finding and getting rid of “bad” teachers and too little effort in developing models to effectively involve teachers in developing and maintaining high performing students and schools.

One Committee witness representing a private think-tank organization pointed to the failure of federal programs to improve student learning.  He did a good job of representing his organizations dedication to limited government and stressed that, in most cases Congress, is overreaching its constitutional powers by creating federal education programs.  Evidently he felt one of the “overreaching” federal programs was for free and reduced-price school meals.  He suggested that when students have no alternative for lunch at school, they will bring their own lunch.  Makes me wonder how much thinking goes on in that tank and how eliminating meals for children from low income families contributes to the organizations stated commitment to “expanding a civil society”.

Committee hearings will continue in the near future and Brustein and Manasevit report there appears to be agreement on some areas of focus:  teacher recruitment, evaluation, and training, charter schools and vouchers, student assessment, and the proper role of the federal government in state and local government.

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