Education Reform

In America’s pursuit of education, many revisions of legislative policies have occurred over the past hundred years. Three of the most significant changes in educational reform are the legislation and implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, and the Blueprint for Reform of 2010. These policies have similarities because they each build one upon the other. However, they have distinct focally difference which make them each unique in their means of implementation to reach the goal of educating the present generation. Each reform has had a profound impact upon the state’s ability to educate their student population in order to prepare them for the global workforce, the 21st century,

Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which primarily focused on “quality and equality” in education for all students in the United States (Public Law 89-10. 1965). The Elementary and Secondary Education Act contained five provisions. Title I dealt with the school improvement for the poor and underprivileged which included the idea of technological poverty also (Federal Education Policy and the State 2009. Pg18). Title II focused on the upgrade of public libraries in accordance with the Standards for School Library (ESEA 1965), Title III introduced innovative solutions to educational problems (ESEA 1965). Title IV provides federal grants for teaching strategies and finally the Title V funded the expansion of the state Department of Education (Federal Education Policy and the State, 2009 pg. 18). Each section focused on the main goal of providing aid to schools, while at the same time setting expectation to produce results in terms of academic performance which were deemed necessary in order to implement the idea that if children had quality education they could overcome the effect of poverty. (Federal Education Policy, 2009. pg 18). The Elementary and Secondary Acts was a primary decisive vehicle to distribute federal funds to supplement state school spending in the nation’s poorest and poverty stricken areas in an effort to innovate and improved educational services to all students (McGuinn P. n.d. pg 4) “In 1965,

This time, in 2010, President Barak Obama implements his reform package which is redesigning and reforming the No child Left Behind Act (Education Knowledge. n.d.) known as the Blueprint for Reform of the Education and Secondary Act. The Blue print of Reform will now address the issues created by the No Child Left Behind Act while pursing high standards and closing the achievement gap. Once again, an educational reform based upon the basic principles of equal of education set forth by the ESEA and the demand for accountability created in the NCLB but this time the reform incorporates the idea of “giving education to everyone from the day they start preschool to the day they start their career” (Education at Glance. n.d.). The focus has changed to address the issue of a global economy and “a high quality education is no longer a path way to opportunity – it is a prerequisite for success”(Knowledge and Skill. n.d. para 1). Expanding federal education to include college is beyond the original foundation set forth in either of the pervious legislative measure causing a shift from the education of the elementary and secondary student population to that of young adults, which infringes on their taking their responsibility for their own educational pursuits. This augmentation results in the