EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
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 exe-
cuting 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 clearing-
house of ideas on schools and teaching; (3) help-
ing families pay for college; (4) helping local
communities and schools meet the most press-
ing needs of their students; (5) preparing stu-
dents for employment in a changing economy;
and (6) ensuring non-discrimination for recipi-
ents 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 legis-
lation creating the first education department as
a non-cabinet-level, autonomous agency.
Within one year, the department was demoted
to the office of education because Congress
feared that it would exercise too much control
over local schools. Since the Constitution did
not specifically mention education, Congress
declared that the secretary of education and
other officials should be prohibited from exer-
cising direction, supervision, or control over the
curriculum, instructional programs, adminis-
tration, or personnel of any educational institu-
tion. Such matters are the responsibility of
states, localities, and private institutions.
Over the next several decades the office of
education remained small, operating under
different titles and housed in various govern-
ment agencies, including the U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF THE INTERIOR and the former U.S. Depart-
ment 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 pro-
grams 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 estab-
lished the current Department of Education.
Since that time, the DOE has continued to
expand its duties by taking an active role in edu-
cation reform. In 1983, the DOE published A
Nation at Risk, a report that described the defi-
ciencies of U.S. schools, stating that mediocrity,
not excellence, was the norm in public educa-
tion. 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 Strat-
egy, the plan has eight goals: (1) all children will
start school ready to learn by participating in
preschool programs; (2) the high-school gradu-
ation rate will increase to at least 90 percent; (3)
all students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having
demonstrated competency in English, mathe-
matics, science, foreign languages, civics and
government, economics, art, history, and geog-
raphy; (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 mathe-
62 EDICT
WEST’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 2nd Editionmatics and science achievement; (6) every adult
will be literate and will possess the knowledge
and skills necessary to compete in a global econ-
omy; (7) every school will be free of drugs, vio-
lence, and the unauthorized presence of
firearms and alcohol; and (8) every school will
promote partnerships to increase parental
involvement in the social, emotional, and aca-
demic growth of children.
Many of the goals of this educational initiative
were praised by some educators, although the ini-
tiative was not without its skeptics. Its proposals
called for revolutionary reforms in educational
systems across the United States at a relatively low
cost. Proponents of the program also claimed the
program would end complacency in the educa-
tional systems, would allow employers to hire
more qualified teachers, and would dramatically
increase student achievement.
One aspect of the America 2000 program
was that federal spending on K-12 education
increased from over $9 billion in 1990 to almost
$18 billion in 2000. Nevertheless, the promise of
massive improvements in student achievement
never came to fruition. Mathematics and read-
ing scores only increased slightly from 1996 to
2000, while proficiency in science actually
decreased during the same time period.
President GEORGE W. BUSH premised much
of his campaign in 2000 on educational reform.
Among the more striking statistics he cited
related to the teachers in American schools. For
instance, only about forty percent of mathemat-
ics teachers had studied math in college, while
one-fifth of the nation’s students in English
classes were taught by instructors who did not
hold a major or minor in English.
On January 8, 2002, Bush signed into law the
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No.
107-110, 115 Stat. 1425 (20 U.S.C.A. §§ 6301 et
seq.). Supporters of the act promised a major
reform in national educational policy. The over-
all goal of the Act is to “ensure that all children
have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to
obtain high-quality education. . .”Moreover, the
Act is designed to allow children to achieve
higher proficiency on achievement tests and
other assessments.
The act requires every state to test students
in grades three through eight in mathematics
and reading. By 2007, states will be required to
test science as well. Testing has been a major
issue among educators due in part to the anxiety
it causes among students.Moreover,many claim
that achievement tests are often flawed and that
they may disfavor minorities and low-income
children. Proponents of the Act, however, point
out that testing is one of the few recognized
methods for measuring student abilities, and
that standardized testing ensures that children
are not failing because they attend a failing
school.
Additional provisions provide funding to
prepare and train teachers and principals. The
act also promotes use of scientifically-based
reading instruction and stresses the importance
of using established instructional methods.
These provisions have likewise been subject to
criticism, as detractors claim that forcing
schools to adopt stringent educational models
inhibits development of effective methods by
individual teachers. Supporters note that many
independent efforts fail and that the people that
suffer from such failures are the students.
Additional provisions of the No Child Left
Behind initiative focus upon safer schools,
including provisions that allow parents to
remove children from unsafe schools; improve-
ments of academic achievement of the disadvan-
taged; enhancements in language instruction;
promotion of informed parental choices; and
flexibility and accountability in education.
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 two percent of all
federal spending, and had 4,900 employees,
making it the smallest cabinet agency.
The DOE’s elementary and secondary edu-
cation programs annually serve fifteen thousand
local school districts and almost 50 million stu-
dents attending more than eighty-four thousand
public schools and twenty-four thousand pri-
vate schools. Approximately 7 million post-sec-
ondary students receive grant, loan, and
work-study assistance. From 1975 to 1995,
approximately 40 million students attended col-
lege on student financial aid programs. An addi-
tional 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 bil-
lion a year on education for elementary to post-
