Enter: Decentralization

Nate Snow -

Act III in American Education


Two concepts have directed public K-12 education over time: enrollment and standardization. Even without coercive coordination from the federal government, these core themes have shaped policies and practices across state and local institutions charged with educating 50,000,0000 children everyday. First, we focused on enrollment: get all the kids into school. Then, we adopted common methods and approaches that for nearly 70 years have kept school in Connecticut looking rather similar to school in Texas.

No longer.

These institutions’ inept response to the pandemic created an opening for competing concepts to move from the margins to the mainstream. Thousands of schools abandoned their commitment to enrollment across the '20-'21 school year and there's been a startling lack of adopting new standards for remediation and recovery. While not a new idea in education, decentralization is gathering momentum and it's the emerging concept I'm tracking most closely.

Though PostCommon has taken a long hiatus, I’m curious to explore how decentralization in education is gaining ground and what it could mean for families, students, and the sector moving forward.  

To start, here’s a quick roundup of related news. It’s easy to cherry-pick in support of a thesis. It's also fun.