McGuinn and Manna (2013) define policy as “the array of initiatives, programs, laws, regulations, and rules that the governance system chooses to produce” (p. 9). In the California State University (CSU) system, the governance system refers to all three branches of the federal government, as well as the US Department of Education, the Constitution and various laws such as Title VI and Title IX. Additionally, all three branches of the state government make policy that impacts us. Internally, the Board of Trustees and Chancellor make policy, sometimes in response to federal or state initiatives, and sometimes on their own. Sometimes these policies are directives to campuses to make a specific policy, such as executive orders requiring each campus to have a field trip policy and internship policy. At the campus level, policies are made by administration and by governance structures such as Associated Students, Faculty Senate, and committees. Policies are also made through less formal mechanisms by staff.
The just-concluded U.S. Supreme Court term included a blockbuster union rights ruling, the announced retirement of a justice influential on education issues, and a variety of rulings with relevance for K-12. https://t.co/PrhM92Huhk #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/ROnNfaUfSR— Education Week (@educationweek) July 4, 2018
There are three discussions in Rippner (2016) that particularly interest me. The first, is a brief discussion about the civic purpose of public education (p. 15). As director of the Center for Community Engagement, my job is to support our civic mission. I have learned that this public purpose is part of the reason that taxpayers are willing to invest in the education of others; education is not a commodity for the educated. However, it’s not just education for education’s sake either, as an educated population can better invest in the larger community as well as contribute to our democracy. As John Dewey explains, "Democracy needs to be reborn in each generation and education is its mid-wife” (n. p). But what was so interesting to me about this discussion that I have almost every day at work is that there was never a time in which this has been self-evident or widely agreed upon.
The second discussion that I found particularly interesting is about the conflict between the American ideal of equal opportunity and capitalism's rewarding of extra effort (p. 29). I wonder if this is particular to the influence of neoliberalism or has always been an issue. DeWitt (2018) explores the importance of teaching for social justice and not simply kindness or charity. “We should teach, model and promote kindness as much and as often as we can. But we also need to teach and empower young people to engage in social action: that is the only way we can ultimately change societal inequities and bring about a truly just society (n.p.)”. I wonder what a policy to do this kind of education would look like and how it could successfully be created and implemented in such a divisive political climate. I hope this will be discussed further in the book.
I can’t not report on the oddity of being described as an anonymous bureaucrat, and this is the third discussion I found interesting. I think the authors are referring to most of my CODEL cohort in this description. I can’t say that I disagree, and am glad that my power is real and not an illusion.
References
Dewey, J. (1915). The school and society (Rev. ed.). Chicago, Ill.: The University of Chicago Press.
Dewitt, J. (2018, July 3). Forget Kindness. Schools Need to Foster Social Justice. Education Week. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2018/06/move_on_from_kindness_schools_need_to_foster_social_justice.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw
Education Week. (2018, July 4). The just-concluded U.S. Supreme Court term included a blockbuster union rights ruling, the announced retirement of a justice influential on education issues, and a variety of rulings with relevance for K-12. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/educationweek/status/1014562735323934721
Manna, P., McGuinn, P., & Finn, C. (2013). Education governance for the twenty-first century: Overcoming the structural barriers to school reform. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
Rippner, J. (2016). The American education policy landscape.
Merith, thanks for your post. It made me think about student retention based on the work you do. Does your school focus on high impact practices (HIP) in the policy level? As you already know, service-learning and community engagement is considered as a HIP, which can support student success, and I wonder if you had those discussions with faculty members in the early stages and met with some levels of resistance and challenges or was your program already established before you were there?
ReplyDeleteAt Fresno State, it took a new provost to encourage HIP in the academic curriculum and to encourage new ways of doing things to support student success. As Rippner (2016) states "often new leaders or regimes highlight new conditions and problems rather than continuing to work on existing ones" (p. 39). The provost had worked with so many faculty members to encourage them to collaborate with the center for community engagement and service-learning because she felt it wasn't simply to increase student retention but to brand the university has a community giving institution too. It certainly changed the public opinion of Fresno State when they learned that many students were giving back to the community and the faculty members felt that this could be an effective way to engage with their learning too.
Your second point on the conflict between American ideal of equal opportunity and capitalism's rewarding of extra effort (p. 29) also reminded me of the influence of neoliberalism. We live in a society where it is all conditioned on individual success and "survival of the fittest." Education today
The second discussion that I found particularly interesting is about the conflict between the American ideal of equal opportunity and capitalism's rewarding of extra effort (p. 29). I wonder if this is particular to the influence of neoliberalism or has always been an issue. I don't see a way out of this system without dismantling every facet completely but what should we replace it with? Institutions are constantly competing for many similar resources and there aren't that many out there as before. Some have argued that there are too many universities and colleges while others have described that there should be a major overhaul and reform in higher education to adapt to changing environments and student learning. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on educational policies and issues in the course! I also look forward to reading more about how policies can be implemented in such divisive political climate in the book but I realize that the book was published in 2016 so it doesn't cover the turbulent nature of today's political frenzy and landscape in education.