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Help Wanted: Flexibility for Innovative State Education Agencies

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Title: Help Wanted: Flexibility for Innovative State Education Agencies
Language: English
Authors: Murphy, Patrick, Center for American Progress, Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation
Source: Center for American Progress. 2014.
Availability: Center for American Progress. 1333 H Street NW 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. Tel: 202-682-1611; Web site: http://www.americanprogress.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 36
Publication Date: 2014
Document Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Descriptors: State Departments of Education, Federal Aid, Federal State Relationship, Barriers, Educational Improvement, Innovation, Resource Allocation, Government Role, Federal Government, Government Employees, Capacity Building, Elementary Secondary Education, Administrative Organization, Incentives
Abstract: State education agencies, or SEAs, are being asked-and in some cases, forced-to make operational changes in the name of school improvement. New laws and expectations are pushing them to play a greater role in managing school performance, displacing to a significant degree their decades-old responsibility for monitoring local school districts for compliance with federal and state programs. Moving toward school improvement, however, requires a new way of doing things, often involving reconfigured priorities, staff positions, and processes within these agencies. This transition is taking place while overall state education department funding has remained flat, at best, or declined in many states. Consequently, SEAs are looking for ways to do more with less, shifting resources within the agency to align with new priorities. Ironically, the most visible force pushing SEAs to play a more substantive role in managing and improving school performance is also one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of efforts to realign funds for that purpose-the federal government. Two factors combine to create this situation. First, federal grants supply a surprisingly large share of the resources that support state-level education administration. Second, those funds come to the state with a number of strings attached-namely, reporting requirements and restrictions about how the funds are used. State education administrators looking to combine similar responsibilities and focus resources for school improvement are beginning to bump up against these restrictions. This paper examines what the federal government might do to get out of SEAs' way as they work to reinvent themselves. In doing so, it attempts to answer three questions: (1)What role do federal dollars play in supporting the work of SEAs; (2) What are the constraints that SEAs face in using or repurposing federal resources as they look to innovate and support improved student outcomes; and (3) What could be done to facilitate more flexibility from the federal level? To answer these questions, state and federal documents, were reviewed, state administrators and education regulatory law experts, were reviewed and prior research was studied. The paper first provides a context for understanding how SEAs have been forced to shift out of the role of compliance monitor and into that of performance manager. It then describes how state agencies allocate their resources and the critical role that the federal government plays in that distribution.
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2015
Accession Number: ED561070
Database: ERIC
FullText Text:
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  Data: Help Wanted: Flexibility for Innovative State Education Agencies
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Murphy%2C+Patrick%22">Murphy, Patrick</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Center+for+American+Progress%22">Center for American Progress</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Eli+and+Edythe+Broad+Foundation%22">Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Center+for+American+Progress%22"><i>Center for American Progress</i></searchLink>. 2014.
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  Data: Center for American Progress. 1333 H Street NW 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. Tel: 202-682-1611; Web site: http://www.americanprogress.org
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  Data: 36
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  Data: 2014
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  Data: Reports - Evaluative
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  Label: Education Level
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Secondary+Education%22">Elementary Secondary Education</searchLink>
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  Label: Descriptors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22State+Departments+of+Education%22">State Departments of Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Federal+Aid%22">Federal Aid</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Federal+State+Relationship%22">Federal State Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Barriers%22">Barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Improvement%22">Educational Improvement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Innovation%22">Innovation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Resource+Allocation%22">Resource Allocation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Government+Role%22">Government Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Federal+Government%22">Federal Government</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Government+Employees%22">Government Employees</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Capacity+Building%22">Capacity Building</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+Secondary+Education%22">Elementary Secondary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Administrative+Organization%22">Administrative Organization</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Incentives%22">Incentives</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: State education agencies, or SEAs, are being asked-and in some cases, forced-to make operational changes in the name of school improvement. New laws and expectations are pushing them to play a greater role in managing school performance, displacing to a significant degree their decades-old responsibility for monitoring local school districts for compliance with federal and state programs. Moving toward school improvement, however, requires a new way of doing things, often involving reconfigured priorities, staff positions, and processes within these agencies. This transition is taking place while overall state education department funding has remained flat, at best, or declined in many states. Consequently, SEAs are looking for ways to do more with less, shifting resources within the agency to align with new priorities. Ironically, the most visible force pushing SEAs to play a more substantive role in managing and improving school performance is also one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of efforts to realign funds for that purpose-the federal government. Two factors combine to create this situation. First, federal grants supply a surprisingly large share of the resources that support state-level education administration. Second, those funds come to the state with a number of strings attached-namely, reporting requirements and restrictions about how the funds are used. State education administrators looking to combine similar responsibilities and focus resources for school improvement are beginning to bump up against these restrictions. This paper examines what the federal government might do to get out of SEAs' way as they work to reinvent themselves. In doing so, it attempts to answer three questions: (1)What role do federal dollars play in supporting the work of SEAs; (2) What are the constraints that SEAs face in using or repurposing federal resources as they look to innovate and support improved student outcomes; and (3) What could be done to facilitate more flexibility from the federal level? To answer these questions, state and federal documents, were reviewed, state administrators and education regulatory law experts, were reviewed and prior research was studied. The paper first provides a context for understanding how SEAs have been forced to shift out of the role of compliance monitor and into that of performance manager. It then describes how state agencies allocate their resources and the critical role that the federal government plays in that distribution.
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  Data: ERIC
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  Data: ED561070
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=ED561070
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  BibEntity:
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 36
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: State Departments of Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Federal Aid
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Federal State Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational Improvement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Innovation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Resource Allocation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Government Role
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Federal Government
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Government Employees
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Capacity Building
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary Secondary Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Administrative Organization
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Incentives
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Help Wanted: Flexibility for Innovative State Education Agencies
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