Student achievement in math and reading has hit its lowest point in decades. 69传媒鈥� mental health has continued a long decline. And many schools are still dealing with teacher and staff shortages.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says the Biden administration鈥檚 major accomplishment in response to those challenges has been the distribution of tens of billions of dollars in federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in the administration鈥檚 first few months in 2021.
In an interview with Education Week, the secretary spoke about the Biden administration鈥檚 K-12 track record so far and its goals for the future. And he made clear that he doesn鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a 鈥渟ilver bullet鈥� solution to those challenges that the Biden administration will push from Washington.
In the interview, Cardona highlighted the department鈥檚 , a set of strategies the federal government would like to see schools use to raise academic achievement, create positive learning environments, and expand students鈥� pathways to careers and higher education.
But the secretary said he 鈥渃hose intentionally not to create a magic strategy that鈥檚 going to be something totally different.鈥�
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What are some of the successes that you would highlight in the Biden administration鈥檚 work with K-12 schools so far?
In the last 2 1/2 years, we have provided and executed in the distribution and implementation, support, guidance, and oversight of $130 billion in emergency dollars, which have provided opportunities for students to have access to additional school supports, literacy and numeracy supports, afterschool programs. We, with those dollars, provided the biggest investment for school infrastructure in at least the last 25 years that I鈥檝e been in education.
We鈥檝e also been very bullish to fight for additional education dollars to increase funding for our schools for literacy and numeracy, support for mental health, for ensuring that we have a highly qualified workforce, investing in our educators, promoting multilingual education. [We鈥檝e been] very transformative around college and career pathways, given the investment this administration made in the CHIPS in Science Act, the Infrastructure Plan, and the climate provisions under the Inflation Reduction Act. We have millions of jobs coming in. We are really pushing to transform our schools to make sure our students are prepared with options when they graduate.
While we鈥檙e preparing students in K-12 to be successful, we鈥檙e also opening up doors to higher education in a way that is really turning the whole system on its head and fixing a very broken system. We鈥檝e improved public service loan forgiveness. If you think about that, that helps teachers in our classrooms. We are providing relief to those teachers. It takes one of the burdens and stressors away so they can focus on being good educators. So, the work that we鈥檙e doing in higher ed. connects to the work we鈥檙e doing in K-12 as well.
Polling has shown that most voters haven鈥檛 seen improvement in their schools despite the influx of federal funding. Do you think [the federal relief funds] have done their job so far?
Absolutely. I was in Philadelphia the day before yesterday. The superintendent shared with me how they鈥檙e seeing improvements in student achievement as a result of the American Rescue Plan dollars. I know Connecticut鈥攖he state where I鈥檓 from鈥攈as seen an improvement in their chronic absenteeism, meaning the supports that they put in place with the American Rescue Plan dollars have students coming to school more now than they did during the pandemic.
Imagine the headlines if the money didn鈥檛 go to schools. How many teachers would have been eliminated? What would the class sizes be? How many students would not have [returned to classrooms] because they didn鈥檛 have the adequate staffing? When I think about colleges, how many colleges would have closed down if it weren鈥檛 for the American Rescue Plan dollars?
I would welcome the opportunity to share more examples of how in every state students benefited from the American Rescue Plan. Then I would offer: imagine if we didn鈥檛 have a president that pushed for that, what districts would be facing. Ask any school superintendent across the country if they needed that additional support鈥攖hese are people who are highly qualified and trained to lead districts鈥攁nd they鈥檙e going to tell you the benefits that their students face.
Why do you think there鈥檚 a disconnect between the examples you listed and the public鈥檚 perception of the impact the funds are having?
There鈥檚 still work to be done. The impacts of the pandemic are still being felt. Earlier this year, the surgeon general communicated that we have a youth mental health crisis where 1 in 3 girls in high school have considered suicide in the last three years. We are still grappling with the impact of the disruption in our schools. Not to mention the fact that even before the pandemic our students were not achieving at the level they should achieve.
The President gets the importance of education. I would challenge, there hasn鈥檛 been another president in our lifetime that has spoken so much on providing dollars for education but also having education be central to the growth of this country.
When the Obama administration received $97 billion to help schools respond to the 2008 recession, it came out with Race to the Top. Why hasn鈥檛 the Biden administration released its own agenda for how American Rescue Plan dollars should be used?
I was a school principal during the No Child Left Behind era, and I was a district leader during the Race to the Top funding. No Child Left Behind created labeling of schools and created a system where we were blaming underfunded schools for lack of student growth. While it was heavy on assessments, it was very weak on additional dollars to support schools. Race to the Top, while the goals were very specific, it didn鈥檛 hit the whole country. The last thing people in classrooms in schools need is somebody in D.C. telling them what we already know to be the truth, that if we鈥檙e going to get our students to continue to grow we don鈥檛 need a silver bullet. What we need is support and funding in areas that we know work.
Look carefully at the strategy. I chose intentionally not to create a magic strategy that鈥檚 going to be something totally different. What I鈥檓 doing is putting investments in academic excellence, conditions for learning, and global competitiveness. I鈥檓 an educator, these are the things we need to focus on. We need to focus on good literacy and numeracy programs. Meanwhile, our friends on the right side of the aisle are looking to cut Title I by 80 percent.
School principals don鈥檛 need another, 鈥楬ere, do it this way because we know better than you.鈥� What they do need is guidance on how to make sure they get additional funding to hire that social worker, which is why, again, the president pushed for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and we have over $2 billion directed toward increasing the number of social workers and making sure schools have what they need to be safe.
We have a teacher shortage area so instead of a shiny magic answer, what I鈥檓 doing is trying to show respect and lift the profession, and encourage states to put more funding into education. As a result of that, we鈥檝e worked with these 25 states now and we have internships, apprenticeships for teaching. We didn鈥檛 have that before.
In this country, we鈥檝e had historically a four-year college-or-bust mentality. Oftentimes what that does is lead to students getting a degree in something that they don鈥檛 end up using, owing the government $100,000 in debt, and not using their degree and getting a job that doesn鈥檛 pay enough to pay the bills. What we鈥檙e doing now is recognizing that if we expose students earlier to careers and trades in college that they have more options when they graduate. Options that could lead to a $75,000-$80,000-a-year job right out of school where they can continue in higher ed.
What more could the department be doing to address the historic learning loss and what stands in the way?
The Republicans stand in the way. The Republicans in the House, they can鈥檛 even pick their own leader. They鈥檙e more worried about banning books than they are about banning assault weapons. They鈥檙e more interested in picking on marginalized groups of students than they are focusing on literacy. They鈥檙e not interested in working toward solutions. That鈥檚 one obstacle.
I chose intentionally not to create a magic strategy that鈥檚 going to be something totally different. What I鈥檓 doing is putting investments in academic excellence, conditions for learning, and global competitiveness.
Another obstacle is the statewide effort to privatize our schools. Public education is under attack. Many states, what they鈥檙e trying to do is take public dollars for education and turn it into a voucher program in the name of choice. Now, I鈥檓 a big fan of choice. I didn鈥檛 take a traditional route myself. I had choice in high school. I went to a technical school. I鈥檓 not in favor of taking public dollars and putting them in private school vouchers for the wealthiest kids to have their schools paid for while the neighborhood schools have their money siphoned away from them for these vouchers.
With our Raise the Bar: Lead the World strategies and our focus on making sure we鈥檙e giving students more opportunities, I am confident in our future. I do believe our educators and our leaders in education are going to continue to grow. They need support, though. If you compare the numbers, they鈥檙e getting more support from this administration than in the past. We鈥檙e going to continue to do that.
What do you see as the Biden administration鈥檚 legacy in K-12 schools?
Look, we have the Raise the Bar: Lead the World strategy that has a very heavy emphasis on improving mental health access and support, improving pathways to college and career, improving access to higher education in an affordable and inclusive way, and supporting our families and our educators, something that has been missing especially in the last administration.
Keep in mind, when I came to town in D.C., only 46 percent of our schools were open [from pandemic closures]. Within nine months we got to over 97 percent. Within nine months, we distributed $130 billion. We now have the Raise the Bar: Lead the World strategies that are very clear, academic excellence conditions for learning and pathways to global competitiveness.
We know what works in education.
