Quiz 7: Governing and Administering Public Education

The primary advantage is that community-wide representation is ensured through elections and that the will of the people is being expressed through the election of the members.A disadvantage is that the members who are elected may not be fully capable or may not fully understand the wide variety of issues that a school board must face.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the federal government reduced education spending and shifted more program responsibility to the local school districts.Recently, George W.Bush promoted the No Child Left Behind Act, which Congress approved in 2002.It is seen as exerting more federal influence on local public schools through various accountability requirements such as test scores and highly qualified teachers.This is seen as holding states and local districts accountable, via the No Child Left Behind Act, for meeting high standards.Critics fault the Bush administration for leaving NCLB an "unfunded mandate" and for usurping the authority of state and local educational agencies.State and local agencies are required by NCLB to make certain expenditures, but there is not an equivalent amount of funding from the federal government to support this extra spending.

Although answers will vary widely, they should focus on societal factors, opportunities for males vs.females in the educational-sphere and attitudes of viewing primary-school principals as leaders in curriculum and instruction while secondary-school principals were typically viewed as "managers."