White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics is a multi-agency working group within the Department of Education charged with strengthening the nation's capacity to provide high quality education while increasing opportunities for Hispanic American participation in federal education programs. In addition, the Initiative serves as a resource for information related to closing the educational achievement gap for Hispanic Americans; the Initiative provides staffing to support and coordinate the mission of a President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Despite its title, the Initiative is created by executive order as a staffed and funded entity within the United States Department of Education, its purpose is to provide support for a Presidential Advisory Commission, for organizational purposes located within the Education Department, which in turn provides advice and guidance to the Secretary of Education and, through him, to the President. The size of the Commission changes with each new Administration, numbering anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five members, is led by two co-chairs.
Commissioners are chosen from a wide variety of backgrounds such as educational/academic, sports figures and entertainment and other celebrities. Membership is honorary and the Commissioners serve without pay. All represent either visible Hispanic Americans distinguished in their field or other individuals noted for their commitment to Hispanic matters. In order to fulfill its mission of providing guidance, the Commission issues reports- at regular or irregular intervals depending on its individual directive; as noted, the Initiative is a staffed office within the Education Department. It is led by an Executive Director; the Director is named either by the Secretary of Education. The Initiative's mission ends with the Administration that created it but the agency does not shut down; as a staffed unit, the Initiative continues into a new Administration with a "skeleton crew" on the expectation that a new executive order will be issued or until such time as the staff is reassigned by the Secretary.
The Commission and Initiative were created during the George H. W. Bush Administration as a part of its overall "America 2000 Education Strategy." For at least two years, Hispanic organizations and individuals- Raul Yzaguirre of the National Council of La Raza prominent among them- had been lobbying the government for a federal agency that would oversee educational outreach for Hispanic Americans and help to improve their academic performance. After months of negotiation and planning, President Bush signed Executive Order 12729 on September 24, 1990, establishing the first Commission as well as the supporting Initiative; the goal of the Commission as outlined in EO 12729 was to "provide advice to the Secretary of Education on the progress of Hispanic Americans toward achievement of national education goals and on such other aspects of the educational status of Hispanic Americans as it consider appropriate." To that end, the Commission was expected to urge upon the Secretary a specific set of criteria: Enhance parental involvement.
However, the new endeavor ran immediately into roadblocks that would delay its implementation for a year. Within a few days, the first Initiative director, Gilbert Roman, resigned for unknown reasons; the forced resignation of Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos in early December put the Initiative and Commission into semi-hibernation. After increasing criticism, the first group of 17 Commission members were sworn-in in September, 1991; the Initiative received a full staff and new Executive Director, John Florez the deputy assistant secretary for employment at the Department of Labor. At Cavazos' request, Florez had been involved in the studies that led to the creation of the Initiative. Notable figures among the Commission included Yzaguirre, Diana Natalicio, businessman Peter H. Coors, golfer Nancy Lopez; the Commission issued its sole report on October 12, 1992, entitled A Progress Report to the Secretary of Education from the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.
The Commission was re-established by President Bill Clinton on February 18, 1994 by Executive Order 12900. Like its predecessor, the new Commission was to advise the President, its goals were modified from that of the previous Administration. The Commission was oriented to Report the progress of Hispanic Americans toward achievement of the National Education Goals and other standards of educational accomplishment. However, once again other political issues would push implementation of the Commission's mission onto the backburner for nearly a year. On February 1, 1995, 24 members of the Commission were sworn-in by Vice President Al Gore. Among the more notable figures on the Commission were academicians Guillermo Linares and Eduardo J. Padrón, author/producer John Phillip Santos, businesspersons Linda G. Alvarado and Martin J
National Assessment of Educational Progress
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U. S. students can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U. S. Department of Education; the first national administration of NAEP occurred in 1969. The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, bipartisan board that sets policy for NAEP and is responsible for developing the framework and test specifications; the National Assessment Governing Board, whose members are appointed by the U. S. Secretary of Education, includes governors, state legislators and state school officials, business representatives, members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988. NAEP results are designed to provide group-level data on student achievement in various subjects, are released as The Nation's Report Card.
There are no results for classrooms, or schools. NAEP reports results for different demographic groups, including gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity. Assessments are given most in mathematics, reading and writing. Other subjects such as the arts, economics, geography and engineering literacy and U. S. history are assessed periodically. In addition to assessing student achievement in various subjects, NAEP surveys students and school administrators to help provide contextual information. Questions asking about participants' race or ethnicity, school attendance, academic expectations help policy makers and the general public better understand the assessment results. Teachers, parents and researchers all use NAEP results to assess student progress across the country and develop ways to improve education in the United States. NAEP has been providing valid and reliable data on student performance since 1969. NAEP uses a designed sampling procedure that allows the assessment to be representative of the geographical, racial and socioeconomic diversity of the schools and students in the United States.
Data is provided on students with disabilities and English language learners. Since NAEP assessments are administered uniformly to all participating students using the same test booklets and identical procedures across the nation, NAEP results serve as a common metric for states and select urban districts that participate in the assessment. There are two NAEP websites: the NCES NAEP website and The Nation's Report Card website; the first site details the NAEP program holistically, while the second focuses on the individual releases of data. NAEP began in 1964, with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation to set up the Exploratory Committee for the Assessment of Progress in Education; the first national assessments were held in 1969. Voluntary assessments for the states began in 1990 on a trial basis and in 1996 were made a permanent feature of NAEP to be administered every two years. In 2002, selected urban districts participated in the state-level assessments on a trial basis and continue as the Trial Urban District Assessment.
The development of a successful NAEP program has involved many, including researchers, state education officials, policymakers and teachers. There are two types of NAEP assessments, main NAEP and long-term trend NAEP; this separation makes it possible to meet two objectives: As educational priorities change, develop new assessment instruments that reflect current educational content and assessment methodology. Measure student progress over time. Main NAEP assessments are conducted in a range of subjects with fourth-, eighth- and twelfth-graders across the country. Assessments are given most in mathematics, reading and writing. Other subjects such as the arts, economics, geography and engineering literacy, U. S. history are assessed periodically. These assessments follow subject-area frameworks that are developed by the NAGB and use the latest advances in assessment methodology. Under main NAEP, results are reported at the national level, in some cases, the state and district levels. National NAEP reports statistical information about student performance and factors related to educational performance for the nation and for specific demographic groups in the population.
It includes students from both public and nonpublic schools and depending on the subject reports results for grades 4, 8, 12. State NAEP results are available in some subjects for grades 4 and 8; this allows participating states to monitor their own progress over time in mathematics, reading and writing. They can compare the knowledge and skills of their students with students in other states and with the nation; the assessments given in the states are the same as those given nationally. Traditionally, state NAEP was assessed only at grades 4 and 8. However, a 2009 pilot program allowed 11 states to receive scores at the twelfth-grade level. Through 1988, NAEP reported only on the academic achievement of the nation as a whole and for demographic groups within the population. Congress passed legislation in 1988 authorizing a voluntary Trial State Assessment. Separate representative samples of students were selected from each state or jurisdiction that agreed to participate in state NAEP. Trial state assessments were conducted in 1990, 1992, 1994.
Beginning with the 1996 assessment, the author
United States Secretary of Education
The United States Secretary of Education is the head of the United States Department of Education. The Secretary advises the President on federal policies and activities related to education in the United States; as a member of the President's Executive Cabinet, this Secretary is fifteenth in the line of succession to the presidency. The current Education Secretary is Betsy DeVos, nominated by President Donald Trump and approved by the Senate on February 7, 2017; the United States Secretary of Education is a member of the President's Cabinet and is the fifteenth in the United States presidential line of succession. This Secretary deals with federal influence over education policy, heads the United States Department of Education; the Secretary is advised by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an advisory committee, on "matters related to accreditation and to the eligibility and certification process for institutions of higher education." Prior to the creation of the Department of Education in 1979, Education was part of the ambit of the Department of Health and Welfare.
Parties Democratic Republican Status As of April 2019, there are eight living former Secretaries of Education, the oldest being Lauro Cavazos. The most recent Secretary of Education to die was Shirley Hufstedler on March 30, 2016; the most serving Secretary to die was Terrel Bell on June 22, 1996. Official website
Education in the United States
Education in the United States is provided in public and home schools. State governments set overall educational standards mandate standardized tests for K–12 public school systems and supervise through a board of regents, state colleges, universities. Funding comes from the state and federal government. Private schools are free to determine their own curriculum and staffing policies, with voluntary accreditation available through independent regional accreditation authorities, although some state regulation can apply. In 2013, about 87% of school-age children attended state funded public schools, about 10% attended tuition- and foundation-funded private schools, 3% were home-schooled. By state law, education is compulsory over an age range starting between five and eight and ending somewhere between ages sixteen and eighteen, depending on the state; this requirement can be satisfied in public schools, state-certified private schools, or an approved home school program. In most schools, compulsory education is divided into three levels: elementary school, middle or junior high school, high school.
Children are divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten and first grade for the youngest children, up to twelfth grade as the final year of high school. There are a large number and wide variety of publicly and administered institutions of higher education throughout the country. Post-secondary education, divided into college, as the first tertiary degree, graduate school, is described in a separate section below. Higher education includes elite private colleges like Harvard University, Stanford University, MIT, Caltech, large state flagship universities, private liberal arts schools, historically-black colleges and universities, community colleges, for-profit colleges like University of Phoenix. College enrollment rates in the United States have increased over the long term. At the same time, student loan debt has risen to $1.5 trillion. The United States spends more per student on education than any other country. In 2014, the Pearson/Economist Intelligence Unit rated US education as 14th best in the world.
In 2015, the Programme for International Student Assessment rated U. S. high school students No. 40 globally in No. 24 in Science and Reading. The President of the National Center on Education and the Economy said of the results "the United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are, as the OECD statistics show, among the worst-educated in the world". Former U. S. Education Secretary John B. King, Jr. acknowledged the results in conceding U. S. students were well behind their peers. According to a report published by the U. S. News & World Report, of the top ten colleges and universities in the world, eight are American; the US ranks 3rd from the bottom among OECD nations in terms of its' poverty gap, 4th from the bottom in terms of poverty rate. Jonathan Kozol has described these inequalities in K–12 education in Savage Inequalities and The Shame of a Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Colonial New England encouraged its towns to support free public schools funded by taxation.
In the early 19th century Massachusetts took the lead in education reform and public education with programs designed by Horace Mann that were emulated across the North. Teachers were specially trained in normal schools and taught the three Rs and history and geography. Public education was at the elementary level in most places. After the Civil War, the cities began building high schools; the South was far behind northern standards on every educational measure and gave weak support to its segregated all-black schools. However northern philanthropy and northern churches provided assistance to private black colleges across the South. Religious denominations across the country set up their private colleges. States opened state universities, but they were quite small until well into the 20th century. In 1823, the Reverend Samuel Read Hall founded the first normal school, the Columbian School in Concord, aimed at improving the quality of the burgeoning common school system by producing more qualified teachers.
In the mid-20th century, the increasing Catholic population led to the formation of parochial schools in the largest cities. Theologically oriented Episcopalian and Jewish bodies on a smaller scale set up their own parochial schools. There were debates over whether tax money could be used to support them, with the answer being no. From about 1876, thirty-nine states passed a constitutional amendment to their state constitutions, called Blaine Amendments after James G. Blaine, one of their chief promoters, forbidding the use of public tax money to fund local parochial schools. States passed laws to make schooling compulsory between 1852 and 1917, they used federal funding designated by the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Acts of 1862 and 1890 to set up land grant colleges specializing in agriculture and engineering. By 1870, every state had free elementary schools, albeit only in urban centers. According to a 2018 study in the Economic Journal, states were more to adopt compulsory education laws during the Age of Mass Migration if they hosted more European immigrants with lower exposure to civic values.
Following Reconstruction the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute was founded in 1881 as a state college, in Tuskegee, Alabama, to train "Colored Teachers," led by Booker T. Washington, himself a freed slave, his movement spread, leading
Education Resources Information Center
The Education Resources Information Center is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education; the mission of ERIC is to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information for educators and the general public. Education research and information are essential to improving teaching and educational decision-making. ERIC provides access to 1.5 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials, with hundreds of new records added every week. A key component of ERIC is its collection of grey literature in education, available in full text in Adobe PDF format. One quarter of the complete ERIC Collection is available in full text. Materials with no full text available can be accessed using links to publisher websites and/or library holdings. ERIC includes education related articles in its database.
Sample articles include "The Economic and Administrative Pharmacy Discipline in US Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy", "Aesthetics in Young Children's Lives: From Music Technology Curriculum Perspective ", "Digital Game's Impacts on Students' Learning Effectiveness of Correct Medication ". The ERIC Collection, begun in 1966, contains records for a variety of publication types, including: journal articles books research syntheses conference papers technical reports dissertations policy papers, other education-related materialsERIC provides the public with a centralized Web site for searching the ERIC collection and submitting materials to be considered for inclusion in the collection. Users can access the collection through commercial database vendors and institutional networks, Internet search engines. To help users find the information they are seeking, ERIC produces a controlled vocabulary, the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors; this is a selected list of education-related words and phrases used to tag materials by subject and make them easier to retrieve through a search.
Prior to January 2004, the ERIC network consisted of sixteen subject-specific clearinghouses, various adjunct and affiliate clearinghouses, three support components. The program was consolidated into a single entity, with upgraded systems, paper-based processes converted to electronic, thus streamlining operations and speeding delivery of content. ERIC website ERIC Digests, a repository for materials produced by the former ERIC Clearinghouse system up to 2003
