On reviewing the current educational governance system in the United States and as indeed in various other parts of the world, it has been seen that the system of governance is not entirely representative of the needs of the entire population with access to public education facilities. The state boards of education and the organizational structures thereof are lineated towards policies that are being formulated by bureaucrats, business powers and political outfits to suit their agenda and are thus impoverished of public participation as a whole. The academic hierarchy suffers from certain negativities, which also led to low morale among educators as their promotion is being guided outside of the criteria that should be used for judging such promotions. Citizens themselves are feeling alienated and there is a lack of trust in policymaker’s decisions because they believe that these policies might be guided out of the interests of other private interest groups such as bureaucrats, business houses or political parties. A change thereby is needed to ensure that the education imparted and the system as a whole is brought up to date with the current demands of the society and a greater horizontal span of management is introduced to ensure that the expression and alignment of public choice are incorporated in the system (Koontz, 2007).
Currently the education system has a narrow span of management. It is needed that the system is reviewed and if started from scratch a wide span of management be introduced, with greater horizontal articulation and alignment, and greater representation of local authorities and parents and mature students. The recommendations of the local school groups are necessary because they are the best people to advise on the requirements for the social, psychological and academic development of local children. Therefore, ensuring that proper representation of the demographic can be used to draft norms and standards of education that would be representative and responsive. Thorough training of educators is to be established with clear delegation to undertake well-defined jobs. Everyone is to be made aware of his or her representation and responsibility. Verifiable objectives such as improved attendance, scores in reading and mathematics are to be set and each school appraised for achieving the same and for struggling schools to be encouraged and guidance provided when necessary. The educators, policymakers, local school authorities and the parents and students themselves have to be made accountable for their actions. Everyone should be aware of his or her duties and the consequences of their actions. Educators who succeed in achieving the set of verifiable objectives should be duly rewarded, repeated failures admonished, and if possible guidance and support provided (Martin, 2002).
For the benefit of the students, it would be best if decisions regarding a child’s education were placed as close as possible to its community. The state needs to advise and guide these local authorities in matters of the curriculum but the local demographic is best suited to formulate policies on the infrastructure required, staff development, evaluation and modifications of student programs. Local control ensures that by dialogue and interaction between the various strata’s of society in the community the best possible goals can be established (Sweeney, 2000).
It is to be ensured also that a degree of accountability is introduced in the local school communities. Every school and its related community members such as administrators, faculty, parents and other representatives are to be made aware of their goals and individual duties and are to be held responsible and accountable to ensure that the common goals are established individually by the schools. Primarily verifiable goals must be established keeping in mind the common requirements of the society. Then through programs designed to achieve the goals continuous monitoring of the situation is to be carried out. Some schools might do better than the rest and some schools might be failing and be left behind. The idea is to ensure that no one is left behind and so, even though it might be stressful to some, accountability is to be a major criterion. More importantly authorities have to have patience as these changes may not bear fruit overnight and knee-jerk decisions like immediate replacement of staff, principals and superintendents are to be avoided. Students and educators are to be appraised for their efforts and slow developers have to be given more time to improve. Responsibility is to be ingrained in the minds of educators, administrators, parents and students alike (CUNNINGHAM, 2003).
Another important aspect is to simplify the academic hierarchy. Often it has been seen that the criteria for promotion of educators such as associate professors to full fledged professors are guided by factors, which have no bearing on the individual’s knowledge or contribution. This is to be avoided because due to this time consuming and tedious process, many educators may become lackadaisical and act without a sense of responsibility. In other words, the productivity of academicians goes down. It is to be ensured that such a thing does not happen. The necessity is to ensure that every academician and educator feels at home and feel secured bout his or her vocations. Therefore, these distinctions might be done away with and all educators treated on the same footing (Koontz, 2007).
Therefore, we can come back to the main theme, which is democratization of the educational system in a manner to ensure that proper representation of the demographic is established and that the system is not burdened with arcane rituals and practices. Involvement of the various strata of society and their representation should reflect on the policies that are to be designed to ensure a child’s education in manner that would help establish a society where very citizen is aware of his or her own responsibilities towards the society and individual differences can be made to create a harmonious society. The state board of education can communicate better and more formally with the intermediate district administrations and the need for local school boards done away with. Therefore, a linear relationship can be achieved between the local school groups and the state authorities. The state authorities can, through feedback from the local school communities, then create a curriculum or educational programmes best suited to the needs of the children and ensure that education standards for each community are individually met. Therefore, problems, which had arisen due to centralization of power in the education governance system such as, lack of trust in its policymaking, low local responsiveness and responsibility, can also be eradicated. As Mr. Cunningham says,”education that models and supports democracy is an important and enduring national value.” (CUNNINGHAM, 2003).
- SC- State Councils
- LC- Local Councils
Note: every state/ district council would have its influence on its individual local councils. Feedback from local councils comprising of local administrators, parents, mature students, business houses and other representatives of the society would help state councils decide on changes it decides to propose to the national or central board of education governance. (Koontz, 2007)
References
- CUNNINGHAM, WILLIAM G; 2003; Grassroots Democracy: Putting the Public Back into Public Education; PHI DELTA KAPPAN; EBSCO Publishing.
- Koontz, Harold and Heinz Weihrich; 2007; Essentials of Management- an international perspective; Wellington: National Book Trust.
- Martin, John Jeffries; 2002; Simplifying the Academic Hierarchy; Educational Support Services; Vol. 88 Issue 6, p36, 3p, 1 bw; Administration of Education Programs.
- Sweeney, Jim; 2000; Accountability can drive student achievement; Thrust for Educational Leadership; 2000, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p14, 5p; CALIFORNIA, SACRAMENTO (Calif.) UNITED States.