Educational Reform Issue and Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who affect or affected by a policy. Policies are result of negotiation of conflicting interests, so stakeholder analysis can be used by policy makers for decision making.

When it comes to educational reform issue, abounding stakeholders are involved and each stakeholder has his/her own interests. Their desires or intention differs in terms of policy goals and motives behind educational reform, such as competition, reputation, human capital. Besides, establishing a higher standard for science teachers has various aspects, such as operating, technology, funding. Each aspect is emphasized differently among different stakeholders. In this case, it this important for policy makers to use the stakeholder analysis method to measure the roles each stakeholder plays in this policy and how powerful they are.

 Classification of stakeholders

U.S Department of Education:

The mission of the Department of Education is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” (US Department of Education, ed.gov) To accomplish its mission, the DOE’s goal is to identify major issues and establish policy targeting these issues.

According to current federal education legislation, schools are required to measure and report teachers’ qualifications in order to ensure that students are receiving high quality education and district teachers equally across schools. Based on the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), twelve percent of math teachers in high school do not have a certificate or major in this subject, meanwhile the percentage for science teacher is around 4. These statistics suggest that there is a serious issue th...

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...ence. Teachers with higher degree generally have better teaching quality along with their strong academic knowledge background and their advanced teaching techniques.

Parents: As parents, they expect that their children will be successful in school, and they support schools in their efforts to educate the child. Parents are very important stakeholders to the educational decision making process. As suggested by Essex (2005), many parents' decisions on educational issues are significantly influenced by their values and beliefs rather than school law.

Community: Local communities expect and require that students be prepared for employment and leadership and they provide support for families and students who are in need of assistance. If the implement of this new educational policy brings positive impact on local economy, the communities will be willing to support it.