Five Questions For … CEP’s Diane Rentner, on How Stimulus Funds Saved Education Jobs, Spurred School Reforms
The Center on Education Policy’s new report on the ARRA stimulus funds concludes that the federal dollars did help save education jobs nationally, and also encouraged a common reform agenda among states. CEP deputy director Diane Rentner, co-author of the new report, spoke with EWA about the findings.
1. The stimulus funds clearly helped in the short term.
Could there be a downside in the long term to the federal
intervention?
I think that’s a state-by-state issue. In the states that were
hardest hit by the recession, the stimulus saved some education
jobs and helped maintain some service levels in districts. When
those funds go away, it’s going to be worse in the short term and
potentially in the long-term as well. Some other states that the
recession didn’t impact as much, such as Wyoming, which had the
cushion of money coming in from oil, the stimulus funds were an
additional set of money to do some new things.
2. The CEP report determined the stimulus funds spurred
some reform efforts. Which initiatives made the most
progress?
The most progress was probably on the Common Core State
Standards. States weren’t required to adopt anything new (as a
condition of receiving the ARRA funds) but the Common Core was
coming along at the same time, and more than 40 states have since
signed on. States have also made significant strides on their
longitudinal data systems. There has been recognition for a long
time (link to America Competes Act) that we need to be able to
follow students. That’s been something difficult for many states,
when the district next door is doing it a different way. Creating
unified systems within the states will pay off.
3. Which initiatives haven’t made as much
progress?
When it came to making sure there was an equitable distribution
of well-qualified teachers and providing support and assistance
to low-performing schools, states were not doing as much in those
two areas. Those were traditionally local activities, so while
states provided some level of assistance or help with strategies,
it was a lower level of involvement.
4. Are these reforms that can sit in limbo until
state-level funding is restored, or will they have to start over
again?
The Common Core State Standards aren’t fully implemented yet
because the assessments aren’t in place. The longitudinal data
systems are something states should have up and running, and it’s
going to have a lot of benefits to teachers, students and
parents. The things that are most challenging are the reforms
related to teacher quality issues and low-performing schools. You
can see where that’s contingent upon funding. There was federal
money through the School Improvement Grants to help states in
some of these areas, but it wasn’t enough money to help every
eligible school. States are still going to carry out some
activities, but it’s not going to be as robust or as deep.
5. What surprised you in the findings?
The biggest surprise might have been the coalescing around
reform. People initially say w this money as a way to save
teaching jobs, or to help districts maintain programs and
services. I don’t think there was much expectation about what the
impact would be on the reform side.
One thing that isn’t necessarily in the report, but it’s something I think you can deduce, is that people in the wider community don’t really understand the full impact of the stimulus funds. It could have been so much worse for schools. For many districts, those dollars provided a bridge in a difficult time. But it’s not like driving down a highway where you see signs that “this road was repaired using ARRA funds.” There’s no sign on the door of a school building that reads “Ten teaching jobs were saved here by the stimulus.”
This post originally appeared on EWA’s now-defunct online
community, EdMedia Commons. Old content from EMC will appear in
the Ed Beat archives.