EDUCATION AND POLITICS

It’s no secret that politics and education are deeply entwined. Although never clearly defined in the Constitution as a power of the Federal government, that branch has been highly involved in the realm of education for decades. More and more,

Standards and Assessment

Though the U.S. does not have an official nationally mandated curriculum, national standards were created in 2010. The standards, called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), were created by educators and leaders across the nation to determine which key topics should be covered at specific grade levels. The CCSS are not prescriptive in nature; rather they serve as a guide to help teachers and other educators know which content to cover.

Unfunded Mandates

These same standards are then set to be assessed annually. Devised to determine student mastery of the learning standards, how these annual assessments occur are largely up to the states. Several testing consortia exist that states may join to administer their assessments. In other cases, states may create their own test designs and administration plans. This requirement is found in the now defunct No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and still exists in the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Many argue though that this required annual administration of assessments is considered to be an unfunded mandate. The argument centers around the fact that Federal government largely has no power to make these requirements and provides no funding to support them.

Election Focus

As we move into 2016, it should be interesting to hear how the realm of education continues to paint the political landscape.

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