Expanding and increasing funding for school choice programs, creating a stronger classroom environment for digital learning, and ensuring every child is safe at school are among the recommendations in a new “American Education Agenda” released today by the Pacific Research Institute.
Click here to download a copy of the “American Education Agenda”
“A new Administration in Washington and a new California governor on the horizon presents a good opportunity to see what areas of American education need the greatest reform,” said PRI’s Lance Izumi, the report’s author. “The ‘American Education Agenda’ offers policymakers concrete reforms they can adopt today to ensure every student learns in a safe and nurturing environment, and is well-prepared to meet the changing demands of the 21st century workforce.”
At the federal level, Izumi recommends that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos restructure the U.S. Department of Education to reduce the number of programs for which it is responsible, and the appointment of an independent task force to review the effectiveness of federal education programs.
Among the state and local recommendations in the “American Education Agenda”:
- Repealing the controversial Common Core education standards and replacing them with rigorous, high-quality, pre-Common Core standards as models for new standards
- Implementing private school choice programs such as state education savings accounts, and repealing restrictive laws that impede the expansion of school choice
- Reforming state teacher layoff policies so they are based on teacher quality rather than seniority
- Ensuring safe campus learning environments by repealing anti-suspension laws that endanger student safety and adopting policies that guarantee significant consequences for violence and criminal activity by students
Lance Izumi is the Koret Senior Fellow in Education Studies and the Senior Director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute. He is the author of numerous books, including his most recent, The Corrupt Classroom. He has authored many studies and articles on education policy issues, and is a regular opinion contributor to Education Week. In 2016-17, Lance served on President Trump’s transition Agency Action Team for education policy.
