Injecting Federal Control and Influence in Local School Administration
The U.S. Department of Education has pushed for more and more centralization of education, they’ve injected their influence into educational standards through Race to the Top. They have bypassed states through their District Race to the Top program. They are not reaching out to school principals through the Principal Ambassador Fellowship program that has been launched last year.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan touted it in a speech he gave in February:
At the debrief afterwards, one of the principals pointed out that our department’s Teaching Ambassador Fellowship program was a great addition to the department and our TAFs have been instrumental in helping us shape policy. But, he challenged me, why didn’t we have a Principal Fellowship?It was a great question. I took that comment and idea to heart. And so I have asked my senior staff to find a way, even in a time of tight budgets, to create a Principal Fellowship that would bring several principals into our department each year to provide input on policy from a principal’s perspective. Having great, current principals working with us on an ongoing basis will only make us better.
That may sound great, but it really more about the U.S. DOE influencing schools and principalsthan it is the other way around.
Over time, it is possible that like Teaching Ambassador Fellows, all PAFs will spend time gaining greater knowledge of the content of key federal programs and policies, in addition to the Injecting Federal Control and Influence in Local School Administration | Truth in American Education: