Join the conversation

A growing chorus of voices is calling for federal education policies that support, rather than seek to prescribe, good practice. Groups like the Forum for Education and Democracy, the National Education Association and the "Broader, Bolder Approach" Coalition have published manifestos on the federal role in education. We at the Learning First Alliance joined that chorus on Monday, when we published our own statement on the federal role.

A common thread in these manifestos is that schools generally do their best work if given the capacity to succeed. Yesterday, I came across two vivid examples of this point.

The first was a letter to the new president by George Wood, a high school principal and founder of the Forum for Education and Democracy. After describing the daunting challenges he faces in a single school day, Wood explains how the next administration could help him confront these challenges. Federal support for health care, proper nutrition, mental health, after-school programs and family services could help his students, so many of whom now struggle with poverty, homelessness, ill health and family traumas.

Wood makes it clear that the next president will need advice from people like him: "Unfortunately, too many education advisers these days are not educators, and not in touch with the daily successes--and struggles--of schools and schoolchildren."

The second example was this front-page story in the Washington Post. The Post describes the struggles of Maryland's Stephen Knolls School, which "serves medically fragile children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida and Rett syndrome." The school has failed to meet accountability targets for three consecutive years, most recently for poor attendance. Students with such pressing medical needs frequently miss school

Mike Petrilli, who has often opined that schools shirk their fundamental responsibilities, apparently read the Post article in a half-repentant mood. In a blog post entitled "Shame on the Washington-Knows-Best Crowd (Myself Included)," he criticizes the "conventional wisdom" among policy wonks that "states and schools [are] not to be trusted." His final paragraph bears repeating in full:

Perhaps the next version of NCLB can start with a different premise. Let's expect state and local officials to do the right thing and make reasonable decisions, but allow room for enforcement when the few bad apples step out of line. Who knows-maybe people who live and work outside of Washington care about disadvantaged children just as much as we do.

Accountability systems that assume the worst often frustrate educators' best intentions. As we approach a new administration, we have an opportunity to consider federal policies that help schools and communities act on these intentions.

The Learning First Alliance's statement on the federal role in public education offers principles for moving forward.