Department of Education

A federal Department of Education was created in 1867. As an agency not represented in the President's cabinet, it quickly became a relatively minor bureau in the Department of the Interior. In 1939 the bureau was transferred to the Federal Security Agency, where it was renamed the Office of Education. In 1953 the Federal Security Agency was upgraded to cabinetlevel status as the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. A separate Department of Education was created by Congress in 1980 as an executive department represented in the cabinet.

The principal duty of the Department of Education, which in 1996 had less than 4,800 employees, is to provide federal assistance to the state and local agencies primarily responsible for education in the United States. Grants designed to improve education are administered by the department's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of Postsecondary Education, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The department also maintains an Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

Following President Bill Clinton's State of the Union address in 1997, the Department of Education developed a list of priorities that included having every classroom connected to the Internet and all students technologically literate by the year 2000. Priorities also included the creation of clear standards of student achievement in all states. In addition, the department asserted the goal of having all students prepared for and able to afford a college education by the age of 18.

Public Law 96-98, known as the Department of Education Organization Act, established the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) on 4 May 1980.It was established to increase the commitment of the federal government to assuring equal access to educational opportunity; improving the quality of education; encouraging greater involvement of parents, students, and the public in federal education programs; promoting federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information; enhancing the coordination of federal education programs; improving the management of federal education activities; and increasing the accountability of federal education programs to the public, Congress, and the president. The department was the first cabinet-level education agency of the U.S. government. It superseded the U.S. Office of Education, established in 1867, and replaced the National Institute of Education, established in 1972.

The Federal Role in Education

There are several organizations within the DOE. They include the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Planning and Evaluation Service, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Office of Special Education Programs, and the National Research and Dissemination Centers for Career and Technical Education.

In the United States, state and local governments decide most education policy. The role of the federal government is restricted by the Tenth Amendment to that of guarding the right of its citizens to equal access to public institutions and equal opportunity within them. Additionally, through the funding of research, financial aid to students, and the dissemination of information, the federal government is involved in improving the quality of education. The federal government also funds and administers elementary and secondary schools for dependents of civilian and military personnel abroad, operated by the Department of Defense, and has some control over postsecondary institutions that prepare students for military careers. Otherwise, it is not involved directly in post-secondary educational institutions except for certain responsibilities delineated in the Civil Rights Act of 1864. Education funding comes primarily from state, local, and federal taxes.

Programs of the Department

The DOE has undertaken programs in elementary, secondary, postsecondary, vocational, bilingual, and special education, and has fulfilled specified responsibilities for four federally supported institutions: the American Printing House for the Blind; Gallaudet University; Howard University; and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The department coordinates its efforts with the cabinet departments of defense, commerce, health and human services, and labor; the National Science Foundation; the National Endowment for the Humanities; and other federal agencies with education-related assignments. The department works primarily to ensure both equal access (for such groups as the disadvantaged, racial and religious minorities, the disabled, women, and at-risk children) and educational excellence in terms of measurable performance.

National Goals

In 1981, Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell created a National Commission on Excellence in Education, whose report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Re-form (1983), called for widespread, systemic reform, including stronger graduation requirements, more rigorous and measurable standards, more time in school, and significantly improved teaching. A national debate ensued, and throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, the department remained at the forefront of campaigns to introduce national curriculum and assessment standards to hold students, teachers, and schools accountable for higher levels of achievement.

Following President George Bush's Education Summit in 1990, the nation's governors adopted six National Education Goals to enable the country to develop standards of performance for all schools and to measure progress toward the achievement of these standards. The original goals, intended to be met by the year 2000, follow: first, all children will start school ready to learn; second, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent; third, American students will leave grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, history, and geography, with every school in America ensuring that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in a modern economy; fourth, U.S. students will lead the world in science and mathematics achievement; fifth, every adult American will be literate and will possess the ability to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; and sixth, every school will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.

Federal Legislation

Between 1990 and 1994, a number of new laws were enacted that changed the American education system: the National Literacy Act (1991); the Education Council Act (1991); the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (1992); the Education of the Deaf Act Amendments (1992); the Rehabilitation Act Amendments (1992); the Student Loan Reform Act (1993); the Rehabilitation Act and Education of the Deaf Act Technical Amendments (1993); the Migrant Student Record Transfer System Act (1993); the Higher Education Technical Amendments Act (1993); the National Service Trust Act (1993); the Goals 2000: Educate America Act (1994); the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (1994); the Safe Schools Act (1994); the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act (1994); the Student Loan Default Exemption Extension Act (1994); the Improving America's Schools Act (1994); and the National Education Statistics Act (1994).

Reform at the federal level, stemming from the America 2000 Excellence in Education Act, called for funding for Presidential Merit Schools (rewards to schools that make progress in raising achievement, fighting drugs, and reducing the dropout rate); Presidential Awards for Excellence in Education ($5,000 awards to teachers who meet the highest standards of excellence); National Science Scholarships (annual scholarships for high school seniors to encourage them to take more science and math courses); and Magnet Schools of Excellence (competitive grants awarded to local districts to support magnet schools for purposes other than desegregation).

On 8 January 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which mandated that states and school districts develop strong systems of accountability based on student performance. The act also enabled federal Title I funds to be used for supplemental education services, such as tutoring, after-school services, and summer programs, tripled the federal funding investment in reading through the Reading First program, and provided almost $3 billion during the first year to improve teacher quality.

Bibliography

Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.

"Department of Education." Available from http://www.ed.gov.

Hacsi, Timothy A. Children as Pawns: The Politics of Educational Reform. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002.

Ladd, Helen F., and Janet S. Hansen, eds. Making Money Matter: Financing America's Schools. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.

Rochester, J. Martin. Class Warfare: What's Wrong with American Education. 2002.

Toch, Thomas. In the Name of Excellence: The Struggle to Reform the Nation's Schools, Why It's Failing, and What Should Be Done. Bridgewater, N.J.: Replica Books, 1991, 2000.

Veith, Gene Edward, Jr., and Andrew Kern. Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America. Washington, D.C.: Capital Research Center, 2001.

—Christine E. Hoffman

Created in 1980, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is the cabinet-level agency that establishes policy for, administers, and coordinates most federal assistance to education. It is directed by the secretary of education, who assists the president of the United States by executing policies and implementing laws enacted by Congress.

The DOE has six major responsibilities: (1) providing national leadership and building partnerships to address critical issues in U.S. education; (2) serving as a national clearinghouse of ideas on schools and teaching; (3) helping families pay for college; (4) helping local communities and schools meet the most pressing needs of their students; (5) preparing students for employment in a changing economy; and (6) ensuring nondiscrimination by recipients of federal education funds.

Although the current DOE has existed for only a short time, its history dates back to 1867, when President Andrew Johnson signed legislation creating the first education department as a non-cabinet-level, autonomous agency. Within one year, the department was demoted to an office because Congress feared that the department would exercise too much control over local schools. Since the Constitution did not specifically mention education, Congress made clear its intention that the secretary of education and other officials be prohibited from exercising direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, instructional programs, administration, or personnel of any educational institution. Such matters are the responsibility of states, localities, and private institutions.

Over the next several decades the office remained small, operating under different titles and housed in various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior and the former U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Beginning in 1950 political and social changes resulted in greatly expanded federal aid to education. The Soviet Union's successful launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957 resulted in an increase in aid for improved education in the sciences. President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty in the 1960s involved many programs to improve education for poor people. In the 1970s these programs were expanded to include members of racial minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and non-English-speaking students.

In October 1979 Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act (93 Stat. 668 [20 U.S.C.A. § 3508]), which established the current Department of Education. Since that time, the DOE has continued to expand its duties by taking an active role in education reform. In 1983 the DOE published A Nation at Risk, a report that described the deficiencies of U.S. schools, stating that mediocrity, not excellence, was the norm in public education. This led to the development in 1990 of a long-range plan to reform U.S. education by the year 2000.

Called America 2000: An Educational Strategy, the plan has eight goals: (1) all children will start school ready to learn by participating in preschool programs; (2) the high-school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent; (3) all students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency in English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, art, history, and geography; (4) teachers will have opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for preparing students for the twenty-first century; (5) students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement; (6) every adult will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy; (7) every school will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol; and (8) every school will promote partnerships to increase parental involvement in the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

In the 1860s, federal education had a budget of $15,000 and 4 employees to handle education fact-finding. By 1965, the Office of Education employed 2,113 employees and had a budget of $1.5 billion. In 1995, the DOE administered about $33 billion, or about 2 percent of all federal spending, and had 4,900 employees, making it the smallest cabinet agency.

The DOE's elementary and secondary education programs annually serve fifteen thousand local school districts and almost 50 million students attending more than eighty-four thousand public schools and twenty-four thousand private schools. Approximately 7 million postsecondary students receive grant, loan, and work-study assistance. From 1975 to 1995, approximately 40 million students attended college on student financial aid programs. An additional 4 million adults received assistance each year to attend literacy classes and upgrade their skills to further their employment goals.

Although the nation spends about $500 billion a year on education for elementary to postsecondary education, the federal government contributes only eight percent of that amount. Federal funding helps about one out of two students pay for their postsecondary education, and about four out of five disadvantaged elementary and secondary school students receive special assistance in learning the basics.

Structure

The organizational structure of the DOE is made up of the offices of a number of administrative officials, including a secretary, deputy secretary, and under secretary; seven program offices; and seven staff offices. Reporting directly to the secretary are the deputy secretary, under secretary, general counsel, inspector general, and public affairs director. All other staff offices and program offices are under the jurisdiction of the deputy secretary.

Offices of the Secretary

The secretary of education advises the president of the United States on federal education plans, policies, and programs. The secretary directs department officials in carrying out these programs and activities and serves as the chief spokesperson for public affairs, promoting public understanding of the DOE's goals, objectives, and programs.

The secretary also performs certain federal responsibilities for four federally aided corporations. The American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, distributes braille books, talking books, and other educational aids without cost to educational institutions for blind people. Gallaudet University, in Washington, D.C., provides a liberal arts education for deaf persons. Howard University, also in Washington, D.C., is a comprehensive university that offers instruction in seventeen schools and colleges, and was established primarily to support African American students. The National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a division of the Rochester Institute of Technology, located in Rochester, New York, provides educational programs that focus on careers and are geared toward helping hearing-impaired individuals obtain marketable skills in a society that increasingly relies on technology.

The deputy secretary serves as the principal policy adviser to the secretary on all major program and management issues and is responsible for the department's internal management and daily operations. The deputy oversees the Executive Management Committee and the Reinvention Coordination Council, coordinates federal-state relations, and serves as acting secretary in the secretary's absence.

The under secretary advises the secretary on matters relating to program plans and budget. Through the Planning and Evaluation Service and the Budget Service, this officer directs, coordinates, and recommends policy and administers analytical studies on the economic, social, and institutional effect of existing and proposed policies, legislative proposals, and program operations.

Program Offices

Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs

The Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs funds programs designed to help persons with limited English proficiency participate effectively in classrooms and work environments in which English is the primary language. This is accomplished through fourteen grant programs and one formula grant program as well as through contracts for research and evaluation, technical assistance, and clearinghouse activities.

Civil Rights

The Civil Rights Office enforces federal statutes that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or handicapping condition in education programs receiving federal financial assistance. Civil rights laws extend to a wide range of educational institutions, including every school district, college, and university as well as proprietary schools, libraries, museums, and correctional facilities.

Educational Research and Improvement

The primary function of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement is to gather, analyze, and make available to the public statistical and other types of information about the condition of U.S. education. This is accomplished through the dissemination of information and research findings about successful education practices, student achievements, and nationally significant model projects. The office also supports a wide range of research and development activities and promotes the use of technology in education.

Elementary and Secondary Education

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education formulates policy for, directs, and coordinates activities relating to preschool, elementary, and secondary education. Grants and contracts are awarded to state educational agencies, local school districts, postsecondary schools, and nonprofit organizations for compensatory, migrant, and Indian programs; drug-free programs; other school improvement programs; and impact aid, which compensates school districts for the loss of property taxes for students who live on federally owned property such as military bases or Indian reservations.

Postsecondary Education

The Postsecondary Education Office formulates policy and directs and coordinates programs for assistance to postsecondary institutions and to students who need financial assistance to attend college or a vocational training center. Financial aid is awarded in the form of grants, loans, and jobs. In addition, this office provides support for institutional development, student services, housing and facilities, veterans' affairs, cooperative education, international and graduate education, colleges for African Americans, foreign language and area studies, and innovative teaching methods and practices.

Special Educational and Rehabilitation Services

The Office of Special Educational and Rehabilitation Services supports programs that help educate children with special needs, provides for the rehabilitation of youths and adults with disabilities, and supports research to improve the life of individuals with disabilities regardless of age. Programs include support for the training of teachers and other professional personnel; grants for research; financial aid to help states initiate, expand, and improve their resources; and media services and captioned films for hearing-impaired individuals.

Vocational and Adult Education

Grant, contract, and technical assistance programs for vocational-technical education and adult education and literacy are administered through the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. This office also works with the Department of Labor in administering the School-to-Work Opportunities Initiative, which helps states and localities design and build innovative systems to prepare youths for college and careers.

Staff Offices

Assistant Secretary for Management

The assistant secretary for management provides the deputy secretary with advice and guidance on administrative management and is responsible for activities involving personnel, training, grants and procurement management, management evaluation, automated data processing, and other support functions.

Chief Financial Officer

The chief financial officer manages grants and contract services and oversees financial management, financial control and accounting, and program analysis.

Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs

The assistant secretary of intergovernmental and interagency affairs acts as a liaison to state and local governments and other federal agencies and oversees the DOE's ten regional offices.

Inspector General

The inspector general audits and investigates programs and operations to promote their efficiency and effectiveness and to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. This officer seeks to recover misused federal funds through courts and administrative procedures and, in cooperation with the Department of Justice, prosecutes wrongdoers.

General Counsel

As the chief legal adviser to the secretary and other department officials, the general counsel directs, coordinates, and recommends policy for activities involving the preparation of legal documents and department rules and regulations, including proposed or pending legislation.

Public Affairs Director

The public affairs director, who reports directly to the secretary, develops and coordinates public affairs policy and serves as the chief public information officer.

Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs

The assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs serves as the principal adviser to the deputy secretary on the DOE's legislative program and congressional relations.

See: Colleges and Universities; School Desegregation; Schools and School Districts.

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for providing federal aid to educational institutions and financial aid to students, keeping national educational records, and conducting some educational research.

United States Department of Education
Seal of the Department of Education
Agency overview
Formed	October 17, 1979
Employees	5,000 (2007)
Annual Budget	Discretionary: $56.0 billion (2006) Mandatory: $13.4 billion (2006)
Agency Executives	Margaret Spellings, Secretary   Deputy Secretary, Raymond Simon

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education building, ED headquarters in Washington, DC

A construction project to repair and update the building facade at the Department of Education headquarters in 2002 resulted in the installation of structures at all of the entrances to protect employees and visitors from falling debris. ED redesigned these protective structures to promote the "No Child Left Behind Act." The structures are temporary and will be removed in 2007. Source: U.S. Department of Education, ^[1]

The United States Department of Education (also referred to as ED, for Education Department) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. Created by the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88), it began operating in 1980.

Its functions were previously in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare which was divided into the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services when President Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act into law on October 17, 1979. It began operation on May 4, 1980. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Education.

It is by far the smallest cabinet-level department, with about 5,000 employees. The agency's official acronym is ED (and not DOE, which refers to the United States Department of Energy.)

Establishment

A previous Department of Education was created in 1867 but soon was demoted to an Office in 1868. Its creation a century later in 1979 was controversial and opposed by many in the Republican Party, who saw the department as an unconstitutional, unnecessary federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs.

Unlike the systems of most other countries, education in the United States is highly decentralized, and the federal government and Department of Education are not heavily involved in determining curricula or educational standards (with the large exception of the No Child Left Behind Act). This has been left to state and local school districts. The quality of educational institutions and their degrees is maintained through an informal private process known as accreditation, over which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control.

Rather, the primary function of the Department of Education is to formulate federal funding programs involving education and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights.

On March 23, 2007, President Bush signed into law H.R. 584, which designates the ED Headquarters building as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building.^[2]

Opposition

President Ronald Reagan promised during the 1980 presidential election to eliminate the Department of Education as a cabinet post,^[1] but he was not able to do so with a Democratic House of Representatives. In the 1982 State of the Union Address, he pledged, "The budget plan I submit to you on Feb. 8 will realize major savings by dismantling the Department of Education."^[2] Throughout the 1980s, the abolition of the Department of Education was a part of the Republican Party platform, but the administration of President George H.W. Bush declined to implement this idea.

In 1996, the Republican Party made abolition of the Department a cornerstone of their campaign promises, calling it an inappropriate federal intrusion into local, state, and family affairs.^[2] The GOP platform read: "The Federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the market place. This is why we will abolish the Department of Education, end federal meddling in our schools, and promote family choice at all levels of learning."^[2][3] During his 1996 presidential run, Senator Bob Dole promised, "We're going to cut out the Department of Education."^[3] A 1997 survey conducted by Congressman Ron Paul found that 54% of his constituency wished to abolish the federal Department of Education.^[4]

In 2000, the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution to abolish the Department of Education.^[5]

No Child Left Behind

Under President George W. Bush, the Department has primarily focused on elementary and secondary education, expanding its reach through the "No Child Left Behind" law. The Department's budget increased 69.6% between 2002 and 2004.^[2]

FICE Code

As with other federal agencies, the ED operates with the assistance of several advisory committees. The Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) is known in higher education for originating the FICE code.

The FICE code is a six-digit identification code that was used to identify all schools doing business with the Office of Education during the early sixties. This code is no longer used in IPEDS; it has been replaced by the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) ID code.^[6]

Budget

For 2006, the ED discretionary budget was US$56 billion and the mandatory budget contained US$13.4 billion.

See also

• Educational attainment in the United States
• Education in the United States
• Department of Education
• Secretary of Education
• Office of Federal Student Aid
• Free Application for Federal Student Aid

References

1. ^ Online Backgrounders: The Department of Education. PBS (Fall 1996). Retrieved on 2005-07-26.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Elimination Lost: What happened to abolishing the Department of Education?. Cato Institute (2004-02-11). Retrieved on 2005-07-26.
3. ^ ^{a b} Department of Education must be abolished. World Net Daily (2004-12-07). Retrieved on 2005-07-26.
4. ^ Paul, Ron (1997-07-20). Parents must have control of education. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
5. ^ Education (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
6. ^ IPEDS Glossary. Retrieved on 2007-04-07.

External links

• United States Department of Education Official Website
• How is the Department of Education Organized
• ERIC Digests - Offers full-text access to public domain ERIC Digests produced by the U.S. Department of Education.
• The U.S. Department of Education's Council on Higher Education Accreditation A searchable database of schools and accreditating instiutions.
• 20 U.S.C. § 3402 and 20 U.S.C. § 3411 - U.S. Code sections authorizing the U.S. Department of Education
• Department Of Education Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

United States Federal Executive Departments
Agriculture • Commerce • Defense • Education • Energy • Health and Human Services • Homeland Security • Housing and Urban Development • Interior •  Justice • Labor • State • Transportation • Treasury • Veterans Affairs
Past departments:  Commerce and Labor • Health, Education, and Welfare • Navy • Post Office • War

Agencies under the United States Department of Education

Secretary of Education Office for Civil Rights • Institute of Education Sciences Deputy Secretary of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools • Office of Innovation and Improvement • Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services • Office of English Language Acquisition • Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Under Secretary of Education Office of Federal Student Aid • Office of Vocational and Adult Education • Office of Postsecondary Education Programs National Center for Education Statistics • National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research • Office of Migrant Education • Education Resources Information Center • National Assessment of Educational Progress Independent Organizations Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance • National Institute for Literacy • National Assessment Governing Board • National Board for Education Sciences • White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities • White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities • White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans

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