A-129 The Federal Government in the Schools
Thomas Hehir
The course is intended to explore the current role that the federal government plays in our PreK-12 public schools, and how current practitioners or policymakers can manage that role in ways that improve outcomes for all children. It is strongly recommended for students in the Education Policy and Management master's program. Particular emphasis will be placed on how federal programs impact at the school level and how school site leaders can manage and use various federal programs to improve educational results for all children. For those outside the school level this course will provide a deeper understanding of how these programs can be used to support positive outcomes for students at the local level. We will begin with a brief examination of the history of school reform efforts in America, emphasizing the role that the federal government has played in the formation and shaping of how our schools function. We will explore the role the federal government has played (and not played), for better or worse, in the creation of vocational education, bilingual education, racially integrated schools, gender-equitable programs, and inclusive environments for students with disabilities. The course will then turn its attention to the federal government and policymaking. We will explore how the structure of the federal government interacts with national sentiment, history, local and state systems, and research to promote (and inhibit) the creation of policies that interact with the public schools. Subsequently, the bulk of the course will focus on federal policies that impact the work of educators in districts and schools particularly--the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the Perkins Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (welfare reform), Social Security, Medicaid, Head Start, the federal Children's Mental Health Services program, and Reading First. We will explore in detail how these policies are shaping the way schools currently operate, how school-based practitioners can use them to improve outcomes for children, and where potential policy "gaps" exist for productive future work. Each week students will be expected to do a variety of activities designed to increase their knowledge of these federal programs and to provide them with skills necessary to manage and use these programs effectively for improving outcomes for children. These activities will include (1) reading legislation, court decisions, regulations, or government-issued policy guidance statements, as well as academic responses or studies of the issues at hand; (2) responding to application exercises designed to apply what they have learned to real school situations; (3) writing policy memoranda; (4) reading case studies or court cases based on the policies or decisions; and (5) completing a final project that will be either a proposal for discretionary money under a federal program or a reauthorization proposal seeking a change in a federal program to better serve children and schools. Further, each week students, and class discussion, will focus on the practical application of policies as raised by the cases or decisions. Students in the course will develop an understanding of the formation of federal policy agendas, the specification of policy alternatives, and the reality of implementation "on the ground" of federal programs in the schools.
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