Educational Attainment Is the Concept

Educational attainment is the concept of how we gauge educational success of particular individuals and groups. It is measured not by what the student learns, but rather how long that individual has been in school. According to the chapter, 85% of the American population graduates from high school, yet only 28% graduate from college. There are clear discrepancies based on race. On average, more white students will graduate high school, followed by black students. Hispanic students are at a much lower percentage of graduating, both from high school and college. Still, female graduation rates have been improving in the last few decades, which is promising.

There are a number of different types of educational groups that affect educational policy. According to the chapter, parents and citizens are primary groups although they have given up a lot of power over educational policies in the last few generations. Parents and citizens' groups are often in conflict with what more professional groups in terms of strategies implemented. Professional educators contain three subgroups, teachers, school administrators who wield the most power, and faculties at teachers' colleges. These groups often have the highest impact on the creation of educational policies. There are then teachers' unions which help provide protection for the many teachers working around the country. Additionally, voters and tax payers help determine which policies are voted into legislation, and decide who is elected to departmental positions. Voters often have an impact in defeating school board reform proposals. Next, there are school boards which govern over school politics. Finally, there are racial and religious groups which help lobby for support for racial and religious specific measures.

The federal government does play a large role in determining educational policies. Often times, the federal government is a huge source of aid money for schools across the country. Although schools and educational policies are often created through local and state governments, the federal government shows support for particular strategies. Crucial funding from the government can then be a strong influence on the direction of future policies on a more localized level. This can be seen with the example of the current No Child Left Behind Program, where the federal government took a more active role in education through promoting more testing methods and enticed schools to follow suit through offering funding.

Unfortunately, there is great controversy in the debate over educational testing. This especially revolves around SAT scores, and other standardized tests that many believe are placing students at a disadvantage. Recently, SAT scores declined significantly, which made many in power to blame schools as providing inefficient educational programs. As a result, many states began increasing the number of tests and their weight in terms of school funding as a way to entice schools to achieve better scores. Essentially, some believe that standardized tests are not the most accurate ways to measure intelligence and student achievement. Many students do not perform well on tests, and research shows there may be a clear racial bias in regards to cultural elements not translating well into a standardized test methodology.

Despite loosing some power over the last few decades, parents do still have a number of choices in terms of their children's educations. Parents may not be able to pick particular teachers, but they can choose whether or not their children will attend public, private, or more alternative charter schools. Greater parental involvement often leads to greater child success, and so parents can use their ability to choose, as well as devotion to governing over their child's academic performance to guarantee greater levels of success.