This document records the proceedings of a Congressional hearing on the role of the federal government in education policy. Statements are provided by Richard Riley (Secretary of Education), Bret Schundler (Mayor, Jersey City, New Jersey), Tommy Thompson (Governor, Wisconsin), and Representatives, William L. Clay (Missouri), William F. Goodling (Pennsylvania), Harris W. Fawell (Illinois), Gene Green (Texas), and Thomas C. Sawyer (Ohio). The following federal education programs are discussed: the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Work Opportunities Act, Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Improving America's School Act. Discussion includes education and the future; economic development and success; national security; responsible citizenship; access and civil rights; state and local responsibility; program reforms; the role of the Department of Education; research; technology; student aid; federal and state partnerships; education standards; education as a state responsibility; school funding and flexibility; disadvantaged children; public and private schools; decentralization; the role of parents; employment and job training programs; major research findings on school choice; and program costs. (AEF)

This document records the proceedings of a Congressional hearing on the role of the federal government in education policy. Statements are provided by Richard Riley (Secretary of Education), Bret Schundler (Mayor, Jersey City, New Jersey), Tommy Thompson (Governor, Wisconsin), and Representatives, William L. Clay (Missouri), William F. Goodling (Pennsylvania), Harris W. Fawell (Illinois), Gene Green (Texas), and Thomas C. Sawyer (Ohio). The following federal education programs are discussed: the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Work Opportunities Act, Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Improving America's School Act. Discussion includes education and the future; economic development and success; national security; responsible citizenship; access and civil rights; state and local responsibility; program reforms; the role of the Department of Education; research; technology; student aid; federal and state partnerships; education standards; education as a state responsibility; school funding and flexibility; disadvantaged children; public and private schools; decentralization; the role of parents; employment and job training programs; major research findings on school choice; and program costs. (AEF)

The federal government is deeply entrenched in American public education and virtually dictates what can be taught to students. Why? At what cost? And what are the benefits to public school students? To public schools? The author challenges the constitutionality of the feds in the classroom and reminds readers that public education has, until recently, been the function of state and local governments.

Schools, today, are in the midst of the most major, costly educational reform movement in their history as they grapple with the federal mandates to leave no children behind, says author Susan B. Neuman, former Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education under President George W. Bush. Although some efforts for investing resources will be substantially more productive than others, there is little evidence that, despite many heroic attempts to beat the odds, any of these efforts will close more than a fraction of the differences in achievement for poor minority children and their middleclass peers. As Neuman explains in this insightful, revealing book, schools will fail, not due to the soft bigotry of low expectations, but because there are multitudes of children growing up in circumstances that make them highly vulnerable. Children who come to school from dramatically unequal circumstances leave school with similarly unequal skills and abilities. In these pages, however, Neuman shows how the odds can be changed, how we can break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage for children at risk After laying the critical groundwork for the need for change—excessive waste with little effect—this book provides a vivid portrait of changing the odds for high-poverty children. Describing how previous reforms have missed the mark, it offers a framework based on seven essential principles for implementing more effective programs and policies. Building on successes while being fiscally responsible is a message that has been shown to have wide bipartisan appeal, embraced by both liberals and conservatives. Following Neuman's essential principles, chapters describe programs for changing the odds for children, when the cognitive gaps are beginning to form, in these earliest years of their lives. In a highly readable style, Neuman highlights programs that are making a difference in children's lives across the country, weaving together narratives that tell a compelling story of hope and promise for our most disadvantaged children.