Dive Brief:

• In an exit memo in the final weeks of the Obama administration, outgoing U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr., discusses the promise of education, progress made over the last eight years and what needs to be done moving forward.
• Among the administration’s key successes, King counts greater access to preschool, higher high school graduation rates, better assessments and higher standards, support for research-based innovation, investments in teachers and school leaders, protection of students’ civil rights and a focus on the nation’s most vulnerable students.
• Moving forward, he calls on Congress to pass the Strong Start for America’s Children Act, as well as legislation based on the Stronger Together initiative to support local diversity efforts, he calls on states to realize the full promise of the Every Student Succeeds Act, and he calls on the Office of Civil Rights to continue its important work.

Dive Insight:

Many elements of the Obama administration’s education legacy have been enshrined in the Every Student Succeeds Act and will likely outlast this presidency. Focusing on research-based strategies to improve schools is now a requirement and the use of federal funds for preschool expansion is now guaranteed, for example. The same probably will not be true when it comes to the work of the Office of Civil Rights.

The Obama administration’s Office of Civil Rights was particularly aggressive, regularly releasing new guidance documents that highlight the responsibilities of schools and districts and create new bases for complaints. More than in many prior administrations, the Obama OCR protected the rights of English learners. It emphasized the protection of transgender students through Title IX. And it sought to ensure academic opportunity for students in custody. While these protections may remain in statute, the Trump OCR likely will relax its efforts to guarantee them in practice.