Statement on Proposed Actions to the US Department of Education
From an Education Journal Founder and Editor
Below is a letter I received from Ann Gaudino, a long-time participant in global education events that I have run. I’ve asked Ann to drop into one of our Thrive meetings to discuss this further.
Statement on Proposed Actions to the US Department of Education
The United States Department of Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) database lists in full text all articles published by our Excellence in Education Journal. Established in 1964 under the Johnson presidency, “ERIC is a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information. It is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education” (https://eric.ed.gov/?faq). Journals must go through a rigorous vetting process to be accepted by ERIC and the criteria can be viewed here: https://eric.ed.gov/pdf/ERIC_Selection_Policy_2024.pdf
ERIC listing is significant. It makes writing and reports highly visible on search engines and accessible worldwide. “Over 11 million researchers, educators, policymakers, students, and others visit ERIC annually” (https://eric.ed.gov/metrics/). Anyone can access metrics on the ERIC website to see how often writing is viewed and downloaded to assess impact. All of this is available at no cost to the authors, readers, and the journals themselves.
Beyond this journal and ERIC, The United States Department of Education (USDE) is integral to the functioning of all schools in the USA. Students in all types of schools K-12 and higher education benefit from the programs, guidance, resources, and financial support. In the USA, whether you and your children attended public, parochial, private, charter or homeschool, you received resources from the US Department of Education. You can read more about what the USDE does here: https://www.ed.gov/.
Having strong and qualified leadership at USDE has been key to knowing how to develop and implement these opportunities for students. Linda McMahon completely lacks these qualities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McMahon).
Education in the USA is now in a very serious place. I urge all people, in the USA and around the world, to reach out to the United States Congress, Senators, state governors, attorneys general, and the vice president in both Democratic and Republican parties urging them to:
1-Oppose President Trump’s order to abolish the US Department of Education.
2-Oppose Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education.
You are welcome to use the information above when contacting these officials and you are welcome to share it with others for them to take action.
Sincerely,
Ann Cancilla Gaudino, Ed.D.
Founder and Editor, The Excellence in Education Journal (ISSN 2474-4166)
Educator with 35 years of service in K-12 and university education