Deck 10: Education Policy

Question 1

How is public education (kindergarten through high school, or K-12) funded in the United States?

A) mostly federal funds
B) mostly state funds
C) state and federal funds only
D) mostly local property taxes and state funds, minor amount from federal

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Today, the ______ who have Bachelor's degrees make more than ______.
A) Hispanics; Whites

A) women; men
B) men; women
C) Hispanics; Asian Americans

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The ______ program is one of the primary federal programs for low-income college students.

A) Pell Grant
B) Race to the Top Grant
C) National Merit Grant
D) HOPE Scholarship

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Concerns about separation of church and state primarily relate to which two issues?

A) freedom of religion and public funding of religious schools
B) prayer in school and private school vouchers
C) freedom of religion and religious icons in public buildings
D) abortion and sex education

Question 5

Which policy allows parents to send their children to any public school in a particular area?

A) affirmative action
B) school vouchers
C) school choice
D) charter schools

Question 6

Which statement reflects the Obama administration's stance with regard to No Child Left Behind?

A) States should be given more flexibility and can receive NCLB waivers; offer incentives rather than punishments.
B) NCLB should be eliminated and a new program should be put in place.
C) NCLB should be eliminated and no other programs implemented because education is a state rather than a federal issue.
D) NCLB should be changed to increase punishments for schools and states that do not meet education standards.

Question 7

What is the federal government's role in higher education?

A) The federal government is the primary funder of higher education.
B) The federal government established land-grant colleges and gives grants and loans to categories of individual students.
C) The federal government role in higher education is to run Affirmative Action programs.
D) all of these

Question 8

The Supreme Court has consistently ______ school-sponsored prayer.

A) ruled in support of
B) ruled against
C) declined to hear cases regarding
D) been unpredictable regarding

Question 9

In an attempt to use market incentives to improve school quality, the Obama administration created the ______ program, a competition for significant funding that required states to collect better data, innovate, and enhance teaching.

A) All Children Lifted Up
B) Race to the Top
C) Merit Pay
D) School Choice Voucher Demonstration

Question 10

______ is based on the idea that teachers should only receive pay raises for successful student performance.

A) Tenure
B) Merit pay
C) Years-in-service pay
D) Bonus pay

Question 11

In the fall of 2014, undergraduate enrollment was over ______ million students.

A) 17
B) 19
C) 20
D) 21

Question 12

Which policy allows parents with children in low-performing public schools to send their children to private schools at taxpayer expense?

A) affirmative action
B) school vouchers
C) school choice
D) charter schools

Question 13

______ are public schools that serve a distinct population or have a more specialized educational emphasis (such as fine arts, science, or technology).

A) Merit schools
B) Private schools
C) Charter schools
D) Choice schools

Question 14

Opponents to school prayer often cite the ______ to support their protests.

A) Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause
B) First Amendment Freedom of Speech Clause
C) First Amendment Establishment Clause
D) Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause

Question 15

In 1965, the ______ was the first major federal law to fund certain remedial programs in K-12 education.

A) Elementary and Secondary Education Act
B) National Secondary Program Development Act
C) Education for All Program
D) U.S. Education Department

Question 16

The ______ is a national test measuring student performance.

A) No Child Left Behind
B) Educate America Test
C) Secondary Assessment of Quality
D) National Assessment of Educational Progress

Question 17

The ______ was the first federal involvement in higher education; it funded many of the land-grant universities that still exist to this day.

A) National Educational Assistance Program
B) College Institutional Establishment Act
C) Morrill Act
D) Stafford Establishment Act

Question 18

How are public colleges in the United States funded?

A) Some state funding, tuition, and grants/donations
B) The majority of funding comes from the federal government, with tuition making up the difference.
C) Funding by state governments has recently exceeded funding from the federal government, with a portion from tuition.
D) A portion is paid for by tuition, but a growing share has come from state budgets.

Question 19

The growing cost of tuition at public universities in the United States is directly related to ______.

A) decreasing funding for higher education by states
B) inflation
C) technology
D) decreasing support for higher education from the federal government

Question 20

Education is often cited as something that benefits more than just the person getting the education; it benefits society in a number of other ways.This is called ______.

A) redistributive policy
B) positive externality
C) buoyancy of community funding
D) market-based incentives

Question 21

Which of the following is one of the most important funding issues for K-12 education?

A) declining funding for school choice programs
B) lack of buoyancy of property taxes when compared to education costs
C) the diminishing achievement gap between poorer and wealthier children
D) the regressive federal financing for education

Question 22

Federal Pell Grants are one program that addresses the needs of low-income individuals.As noted above, these grants provide up to ______.

A) US$4,569
B) US$5,815
C) US$5,987
D) US$6,009

Question 23

The issue of equity in financing higher education depends on one's view that education is a public or a private good.Individuals who view higher education as a ______ believe that greater public support is needed to fund higher education.

A) public good
B) private good
C) merit good
D) individual

Question 24

Advocates of school choice and school voucher plans argue that ______ will lead to better-quality schools.

A) competition
B) low student-faculty ratios
C) more money
D) higher teacher salaries

Question 25

The issue of ______ has surfaced with regard to the financing of public education due to the fact that ______.

A) equity; poor students receive lower quality education
B) efficiency; property taxes are increasingly buoyant
C) liberty; the federal government funds public education in some states but not others
D) effectiveness; test scores are declining

Question 26

Which statement describes how the problem of education quality is defined in the United States?

A) There is consensus that the biggest issue related to quality is that of poor teachers.
B) Most experts agree that declining school funding is the problem.
C) There are many different perspectives on the reason for declines in quality.
D) The public tends to believe that poor teaching is the problem, while education experts view the problem to be declines in the quality of students.

Question 27

Who has played the biggest role in educational policy through U.S.history?

A) federal government
B) private firms
C) state and local government
D) advocacy groups

Question 28

Which statement best describes the division of responsibility between state and federal government with regard to K-12 educational policy?

A) The federal government historically has been much more focused on higher education, leaving states and local governments to manage their K-12 programs until recently.
B) Until this century, the federal government has been the dominant force in education policy, while state governments mostly have implemented policy.
C) The federal government funds No Child Left Behind, but all other education funding comes from each state.
D) The federal government approves state educational reforms and provides most of the educational funding.

Question 29

One of the major criticisms of President Bush's No Child Left Behind educational policy was that

A) students don't have enough study time.
B) students are taught differently from school to school.
C) there is not enough money to fully implement it; it was essentially an unfunded mandate.
D) it does not include high school testing.

Question 30

Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), its first major education legislation, in ______.

A) 1960
B) 1962
C) 1965
D) 1970

Question 31

Increasing the rate of higher education attainment among an area's adult population has been shown to have what benefit?

A) increases individual incomes and, therefore, income tax revenues
B) strengthens the work force and makes it more appealing to businesses and employers
C) improves an area's civic involvement and, as a result, improves quality-of-life features
D) all of these

Question 32

Increases in ______ are the major policy issue facing higher education in the United States today.

Question 33

Decisions about how much to invest in higher education relate to whether one views education as a private or public good.Those who view it as a private good believe that

A) most of the benefits of a college education accrue to an individual, and therefore the individual should bear most of the cost.
B) there are societal benefits when residents obtain a college degree, and therefore the individual should bear more of the cost.
C) most of the benefits of a college education accrue to an individual, and therefore the public should invest in higher education.
D) there are societal benefits when residents obtain a college degree, and therefore the public should invest in higher education.

Question 34

School choice and school vouchers are examples of

A) market-based policy alternatives to improve education quality.
B) unfunded mandates.
C) 21st Century Skills educational quality movement.
D) policy alternatives based on the principle of merit pay.

Question 35

By most recent accounts, what is the most important issue facing U.S.higher education today?

A) discontinuation of Pell Grant program
B) retirements by baby boomer faculty
C) reduced access to college among lower income students
D) declining quality of educational programs

Question 36

At Princeton University, the 2016-2017 comprehensive fee (tuition, room, board, and expenses) was nearly ______.

A) US$64,000
B) US$75,000
C) US$80,000
D) US$85,000

Question 37

Current trends point to a reduction in college attendance by middle- and low-income college students.This trend causes policy makers to be concerned about the evaluative criteria of

A) cost-effectiveness of a college education (efficiency).
B) political feasibility.
C) equity of access.
D) effectiveness of college aid programs.

Question 38

In ______, President Obama signed a new version of the federal education law (the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) entitled Every Student Succeeds Act.

A) 2008
B) 2012
C) 2015
D) 2016

Question 39

What has been the result of Affirmative Action policies in higher education?

A) More minorities are attending college than ever before.
B) Opponents of the policy argue that the policies give unfair preference to minorities.
C) Proponents argue that a more diverse student body adds value to the education of all students.
D) all of these

Question 40

No Child Left Behind was enacted in ______.

A) 2000
B) 2002
C) 2004
D) 2006

Question 41

Examine one reason the use of property taxes to fund public schools is a problem.

Question 42

Traditionally, a significant portion of funding for public schools in the United States comes from ______.

Question 43

One way to look at the students in a particular school district is as a ______.

Question 44

According to the authors, one area of exploration is ______.

Question 45

Exams that assess whether teachers meet certain standards to become and remain certified are referred to as ______.

Question 46

President Obama's administration promoted the ______ standards.

Question 47

Summarize the major problems in public K-12 education that exist today.

Question 48

Most ______ systems currently in place in the United States are limited.

Question 49

The issue of ______ in public schools relates to both religion clauses.

Question 50

College admissions are partially a ______.

Question 51

______ refers to a controversial policy enacted in some states through which teachers are paid based on their students' test scores in order to increase the quality of teaching.

Question 52

The most pressing concern about U.S.K-12 education is about declining ______ of education.

Question 53

All states administered a single test, the ______.

Question 54

______ programs allow parents to send their children to any public school in a particular area.

Question 55

Have Affirmative Action programs in higher education been effective? Provide one argument for and one argument against Affirmative Action programs in higher education.

Question 56

An issue regarding teacher quality often raised by reformers is the teacher ______.

Question 57

According to the beliefs of ______, education provides an avenue to ensure the continuation of U.S.democracy.

Question 58

Historically, the federal government has mostly been involved in ______ education in the United States.

Question 59

The ______, originally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was instrumental in the decision of tens of thousands of veterans to attend college after World War II.

Question 60

A ______ is a federal government scholarship available to students with low income.

Question 61

Discuss the various methods proposed to support and strengthen teacher quality.

Question 62

Explain some of the policy alternatives that are being considered to improve the quality of K-12 public education.

Question 63

Explain the root causes of growing tuition costs at state colleges.Then explain how this cost increase is an equity concern as well as an economic concern for individuals and employers.

Question 64

Explain how a school voucher program works.How are these programs related to education quality and how do proponents believe voucher programs might improve this quality? What are the negatives associated with this option?

Question 65

Why is public education important in a democracy?

Question 66

Discuss the concerns about K-12 education and higher education using the evaluative criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, and equity.