A Research On Education Policies Of U.S. President Obama Administration

Based on a deep understanding of president Obama’s growth experience and his educational ideology, this paper introduces Obama administration’s education policies comprehensively and systematically, and summaries its main features, including a huge amount of investment in education, strongly valued education equity, a clear sense of responsibility for education, improved education accountability, continually strengthened educational excellence etc. Great efforts have been made by Obama administration to promote American educational reform, and certain achievements have been obtained:states’ educational finances have been enriched, students’ standardized test scores raised, status of school improved, higher education enrollment significantly increased etc. However, there are also some problems and shortcomings exposed that can not be ignored behind these achievements, such as too large education expenditure, lack of legislation to ensure educational reform, unsatisfactory progress in standardized tests, controversial market-oriented education policies.Overall, Obama administration’s education policies are following the philosophy of pursuing unity of educational equity and quality that formed since 1980s. The policies are also deeply influenced by president Obama’s personal educational ideology reflecting Obama’s political and educational philosophy of populism and emphasizing both national and personal responsibility for education. This paper will not only enrich studies on President Obama’s educational ideology, but also deepen the understanding of current US education policies. What’s more, since U.S. is one of the most powerful countries in education in the world, and has made a lot of pioneering efforts in many aspects of educational reform when facing the new challenges of 21 century, its education policies and practices will shed light on Chinese educational reform.