ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the federal legislative, executive, and judicial systems in relation to educational policy. It reviews basic US government themes in the context of educational issues. The federal government historically has taken a permissive role in education, consistent with the metaphor of layer-cake federalism. The issue of standards-based education accountability was placed at the center of a coordinated state education policy agenda. An effort to eliminate the Department of Education continued to be a focus until the Ronald Reagan administration. The cause of education also was bolstered by the secretary of the department disregarding Reagan's intentions of shrinking the department. The creation of voluntary education goals through the America 2000 Act signaled a change in direction toward an increasing federal role in educational policy. Although the legislation did not pass, the National Governors' Association strongly endorsed these goals. The role of the nation's governors was most evident in the Charlottesville Summit in 1989.
