Lauren Hughes

1.2 Decision making in education systems

2.2.7 Identify how decisions are made in education systems.

In the education system, there are three levels in which decisions are passed through or

designated to depending on the subject matter : Local, State and Federal. The local includes

individual districts and focuses mainly on decisions that only affect their schools. For example:

teacher salaries, class sizes and calendars. The state focuses on adopting policies for schools in

their state to abide by, such as minimum state standards and common core learning. At the

federal level, this is where the policies adopted by states are created. The policies are normally

very broad and only suggestions. The federal level creates policies that schools all around the

country are required to follow as well as policies that states can determine whether they want

their schools to follow them or not (evidence 1.2.1).

At the local level, there is a Board of Education (BOE). At Olentangy Local Schools the

board consists of a president, a vice president, and three other board members. All positions are

non-partisan and are held for four years. Members are elected by the community and are able to

run for reelection (1.2.2). The BOE holds meetings where they discuss topics relevant to the

school year and make decisions they think will help propel the district. On September 24,2020

the board held a meeting where they discussed bussing information, report cards and staffing

updates for the 2020-2021 school year (evidence 1.2.3). Superintendent Mark Raiff’s action

items included several teacher resignations, retirements and transfers due to Coronavirus. The

board members had to decide whether or not to accept these actions and allow the teachers to do

as they please. The stakeholders of these decisions are the students, teachers, school district and
families/community members. The positive outcome of these decisions being accepted is that

new teachers with different and unique teaching styles are coming into the district, however a

negative is that bonds between students and the teachers that are leaving will be broken

(evidence 1.2.4).

At the state level, the decisions are made for all schools within the state, not just one

district. Decisions made by the state include funding and standards for the schools. In 1918, a

historic decision was made that states required all children through elementary school to have

mandatory attendance (evidence 1.2.5). Free public schools were created to give less fortunate

children the opportunity to go to school because back then wealthy families were the only people

who could afford to send their kids to school. Each state determined funding separately

depending on circumstances such as the number of students and number of schools (evidence

1.2.6). The stakeholders of free public schools are students, families, taxpayers, and the districts.

A positive outcome of this decision was that all children now had the opportunity to go to school

and did not have to worry about the cost; a negative outcome of this decision was that class sizes

were larger which decreased the amount of attention each student got from the teacher. A more

current state decision is common core. Common core is a set of academic standards for

mathematics and language arts (evidence 1.2.7). Each state was introduced to these standards and

were given the opportunity to adopt them. If they chose to adopt, the schools located in that state

were required to teach based on the new standards ( evidence 1.2.8). The stakeholders of this are

students, teachers, state government and the districts. A positive impact common core had on

schools was setting high standards so students were getting the quality education they need. A

negative impact was that schools had to adjust to the new standards.
 At the federal level, more serious and controversial decisions are made. In 1896, the

Plessy v.s Ferguson case legalized segregation. The term “separate but equal” was created, even

though black schools were far inferior to white schools (evidence 1.2.5). In 1954, the Brown v.s

Board of education reversed the Plessy v.s Ferguson case, outlawing segregation (evidence

1.2.5). The stakeholders of both of these cases were black students, teachers, communities, as

well as, the school districts and the government. A positive effect of these decisions was equality

finally being mandated, however, a negative effect was black teachers being fired (evidence

1.2.6 and 1.2.9). In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed by President George

W. Bush (evidence 1.2.5). The act started holding schools accountable for student growth and

created equal opportunities for all students (evidence 1.2.6). In 2010, the Obama administration

created the Race to the Top program to increase the drive for high performance of schools

(evidence 1.2.5). The states with the highest performance rates and improvement after the 2009

recession were granted money along with more training for teachers. The stakeholders of both

the NCLB and Race to the Top were students, teachers, school districts and the government.

Positives of both these acts include better education for students, negatives include a more

competitive environment causing stress on students to keep their grades impeccable (evidence

1.2.6).

Each level of the education system has specific things they need to make decisions on.

The local level makes decisions related to individual districts, the state level discusses topics

related to individual states and all the schools within the state, and the federal level is in charge

of making decisions or policies that the state and federal levels are required to follow and

additional policies they can adopt if they chose to.