States have played an important, if complicated, role
in the development of public education in the United States. Today
they are the focus of much of the effort to improve it. Within the
context of domestic policy development and implementation, we analyze
the states' growing role in public education over the past twenty-five
years. We trace the growing importance of state government in educational
reform and in the delivery and finance of primary, secondary, and
higher educational services. Local vs. state control of education,
the federal role in reform, the various actors in forming policy,
including the governors, education departments at different levels
of government, teachers unions, and special interest groups, as
well as the policymaking process, are examined. We find there is
little empirical, comparative work on outcomes of state efforts
to reform education, and suggest that state governments, while playing
an important role in financing and government education, are too
far removed from the classroom to effect educational reform. It
appears that the real agents for change are still the teachers and
school administrators.
Dan A. Lewis, School
of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University
Shadd Maruna, School of Education and Social Policy,
Northwestern University
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