Reform and the Educational Bureaucracy in America

America’s educational system is failing. A host of our problems, including a stagnated lower class, violence and crime, and employee exploitation can all be traced back to education. So where do we begin to resolve this massive dilemma? Before considering possible solutions to consistently falling test scores, gaps in achievement by race, and the unpreparedness of America’s students to compete in a globalized job market, the means by which reform can come about in our educational system must be altered. Multiply tiered levels of federal, state, and district regulations are crushing the ability of individual schools and districts to foster solutions to their distinct problems. This destructive sphere of a bureaucracy needs be restructured to localize and decentralize power in order for valuable educational reform to take place.

Let’s say, on a District level, I want to modify the way a particular system works. For example, the Mathematics department needs more calculus textbooks, the District recognizes that need, and decides to provide the books. The logical second (and final) step would be to look at the yearly budget and find a place from which to appropriate a few thousand dollars, with minimal impact on other systems. The absurdity of our system is that appropriating a few thousand dollars from a federally funded, multi-million dollar district budget for a set of textbooks cannot happen in a matter of weeks. Slapped on to a majority of state and federal government funding are multiple tiers of other policies burdened by tedious paperwork and regulation. As a result, government-subsidized programs become exceedingly difficult to implement or change effectively.

The problem is simple, and the solution is simple. The steps between the problem and the solution, though, belabor the entire process of educational reform, and often crush bright ideas from the start.

The result, in America’s system of public education, is that responsibility for reform is constantly shifted around to a range of governing bodies––the Board of Education, the subject-area Department Head, the Principal, the Director of Curricula, The Superintendent, third-party auditors, and State and Federal organizations. The actual patrons of the system (workers, teachers, parents, and students) are left to question who exactly has the authority in the system. But in this twisted organization of educational democracy and regulation, nobody has the authority. Accountability is lost in the muddle of federal regulations, state mandates, board of education policies, and administrative orders. Thus, students and teachers are tragically implicated in matters of public and district policy that often have no bearing on the quality of their education or the effectiveness of their instruction.

If everyone is incorporated in making small––nonetheless important––decisions, then those kids will never get their calculus books. And that is a core problem.

Decentralization and Site-Based Management

Our way out of this system of bureaucracy, where power is diluted and solutions are complicated, is to spread out authority to the “site” level. This system is known as site-based management. When control is decentralized, the needs of students will be addressed directly by people who have a stake in students’ achievement––the community. Under site-based management, those closest to the problem have the power to create a solution. Need textbooks? That’s why we have a Director of Curricula, who should appropriate the money from prearranged funds. If any decisions come in conflict with the budget, or the overwhelming majority of district patrons opposes such decision, an appeals process is instituted wherein the Board of Education makes a final decision. One appeal. One Board vote. One solution.

The Board that I serve as Student Representative to has taken steps in the right direction and adopted a system that allows for the sort of decentralization that places the responsibility to fix problems on those most apt foster solutions. It is called the Carver Policy Governance Model for Nonprofit Organizations, and despite its fancy name, the philosophy of the Carver Model is simple: exclusive responsibility, exclusive accountability. Goals and expectations are stated clearly by the Board, and administrators, department heads, and principals are expected to carry out their duties without having to submit to the Board when they make decisions. This way, governing bodies cannot carp over and micromanage the thousands of employees it has entrusted with specific tasks; choices are made more quickly, accountability is less ambiguous, and reform happens faster. Note that the goal of retracted central authority is not less oversight. The objective is to entitle teachers and administrators to fix issues on a smaller scale––issues that may only be visible to them. After all, what scale is more critical in education than the learning of individual students?

In an issue as critical and time-sensitive as public education, where students can drift academically off course in a matter of months, the idea that we have (on a national scale) enabled the destructive sphere of bureaucracy to craft solutions to problems it cannot see or understand is a disheartening one. Too often, we sacrifice pragmatism and progress for the lofty ideal of democracy and collectivism.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/athena/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barton/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Related posts:

1. Race to the Top: the Obama Approach to Educational Reform Nearly a year in office plagued by the economic collapse and now focused on the fiery debate over health care...
2. The Math Disconnect Back in elementary school there was a program for the “gifted and talented” math students called Enrichment. We were given...
3. Mind the Gap: Why Good Schools are Failing Black Students A clear gap has emerged between students of low-income and high-income families. Because of general economic imbalances between caucasians...
4. Christie’s Promises: Relief or Regression? On Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 Republican Chris Christie was elected Governor of New Jersey, beating Democratic incumbent John Corzine by...
5. Twenty First Century Hate: Extremism in America Religious extremism manifests itself in many ways, some more harmless in nature than others. While the media portrays Islam as...