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The Industry Today

The education industry plays a major role in the American economy. From 2018 through the first half of 2023, the U.S. educational services industry generated $2.2 trillion in revenue, according to a report by the research group IBISWorld. The educational services sector, including public schools as well as testing and educational support operators, experienced 3.8 percent annual growth in that five-year span. According to the report, the educational services sector has benefited from increases in federal funding for primary and secondary education, as well as federal funding for universities.

In the school year 2019–2020, total U.S. public school revenues from all states and the District of Columbia had reached $871 billion, a 13 percent increase from the school year 2010–2011. As reported by the National Center for Education Statistics, Hawaii and Vermont had the highest percentages of public school revenues coming from state sources (90 percent for each state), and Missouri and New Hampshire (each 31 percent) had the lowest percentage of state sources for public school revenues. Alaska had the highest percentage of revenues coming from federal sources, at 15 percent, followed closely by South Dakota and New Mexico, each at 14 percent. Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York had the lowest percentage of federal sources for revenue, each at 4 percent. The District of Columbia derived 93 percent of its revenues from local sources, and 7 percent from federal sources.

Education is an inclusive field, and for many years it was one of the few fields where educated women could pursue careers. Not only could women find work as teachers, but they were also able to rise to administrative positions during times when women were severely limited in other professions. It’s fair to say that while the "glass ceiling" continues to be a reality for women in fields like investment banking, it is much less of a reality in the field of education. Modern attitudes toward gender have also changed the role of men in education, with more men becoming elementary school educators now than in the past. And rather than placing a stigma on male elementary teachers, schools now actively seek out male candidates, because current educational theory supports the idea that it is beneficial for children to have male and female role models.

In the past, instruction in world languages was typically limited to Spanish, French, and German at the secondary level. In recent years, however, many schools have adopted international curricula that place an increased emphasis on world languages. At the elementary school level, this often means teaching an international language (typically Spanish) in the early grades—breaking away from the educational model in which instruction in world languages is reserved for secondary students. And at the secondary level, many schools now offer instruction in languages that until recently were reserved for students at the university level, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. This trend is a result of globalization and the growing influence of international business. With many companies desperate for employees who are fluent in multiple languages, schools increasingly view language studies as a critical factor in preparing students for professional success.

The current movement toward hands-on, experiential education has been gaining momentum since the end of the cold war, after a period of many years when a lecture-based approach to education was the primary educational model in American schools. (This former focus on only the basics was often referred to as "chalk and talk.") Most current curriculum models at the K–12 levels rely heavily on hands-on activities that allow students to learn through real-life experiences. For example, New York City teachers are required to begin each class with a five- or ten-minute mini-lesson that is followed by an extended activity wherein students do work either independently or in small groups, with the teacher circulating the room and assisting students. The teacher then spends the last five minutes of class wrapping up the lesson and soliciting student responses to the activity.

The philosophy of experiential learning dates back to John Dewey, an educational theorist whose vision of progressive education has gone in and out of popularity since the early 20th century. Dewey believed that students learn best through hands-on experiences. His philosophies also encourage teachers to draw on students’ prior knowledge as they introduce students to new concepts—allowing them to make connections between their real-life experiences and concepts covered in the classroom.

There has been a significant shift in the governance of education. Starting in 2012, states and local school districts have had greater influence over the educational system than they have had in the past. Federal waivers that were offered, initially, through the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, and since 2015, through the Every Student Succeeds Act, have granted flexibility and discretion to state and local school districts.

The No Child Left Behind act had placed intense pressure on schools to improve students’ test scores. It magnified the importance of standardized tests by requiring every state to administer annual tests in math and reading to students in the third through eighth grade, in addition to assessing students’ progress in science every three years. The stated purpose of this annual testing is to ensure that all schools are being held to the same academic standards. Schools that failed to meet performance benchmarks were labeled as "failing." Critics of NCLB believed that the pressure that was on schools to raise test scores created an educational climate where teachers were forced to "teach to the test," rather than spending time on the skills that students most need to learn. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaces the NCLB, students in grades three through eight are still required to take annual standardized test, but states and school districts have more control than under the NCLB to establish the standards for students' achievement. States are now also required to identify schools with low performance and to develop plans to help these schools get back on track.

The Common Core State Standards, a set of common learning objectives that many states have voluntarily adopted, has also changed how students are taught and assessed. Teachers have to approach the content on a deeper and more strategic level. For math, they work on three or four big ideas with students each week, for each grade level, rather than trying to get through a large amount of content. Scholastic.com reported in an article on Common Core that under the English language arts standards, "teachers in all content areas will share in the responsibility for literacy development. ... [They] will need to incorporate informational text that includes primary and secondary sources, scientific materials, quantitative resources, maps, charts, and digital content."

Professional unions such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) continue to be important organizations in the education field. The mission of these unions is to advocate for the fair treatment of its members. More than 3 million educators belong to the NEA, including more than a half million education support specialists. The AFT represents approximately 1.7 million members across the country, as well as 80,000 early childhood educators and nearly 250,000 retiree members. Most teachers also join other associations or societies that represent their own subject areas or fields of specialization. Professional organizations and unions help teachers attain improvements in education, such as reduced teaching loads to allow more time for planning and evaluating, increased pay and benefits, and budgetary allowances that permit teachers to attend professional meetings. Administrators are considered management-level employees, and they are nonunion.