How will Politics Impact Education Reform?
July 8, 2016
Adam Edgerton, former director of the Dept. of Education’s Upward Bound Program, writes in Education Week that America’s decentralized view for government involvement in schools is similar to Britain’s reason for leaving the EU. Citing No Child Left Behind and its successor ESSA, Edgerton says that recent bipartisan reforms have diminished union membership and split traditionally pro-government democrats into “pro- and anti-charter [school] camps.” Funding for charter schools will increase under ESSA, which Edgerton argues will undermine the institution of public schools. He insists that despite ESSA’s mandates, there is enough residual distaste over No Child left Behind to push strong bipartisan education reforms, should the interest arise.