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The America we want for our kids

a rising America where honest work is plentiful and communities are strong; where prosperity is widely shared and opportunity for all lets us go as far as our dreams and toil will take us none of it is easy. But if we work together, if we summon what is best in us, with our feet planted firmly in today, but our eyes cast towards tomorrow I know it’s within our reach.

Barack Obama, January 28, 2014

Every child in America and across the world deserves an education that opens opportunities—especially the opportunity to join a thriving middle class. Yet, too many children—particularly those in poverty—lack access to the education and supports that make the journey to the middle class possible. The UAO is committed to ensuring that every child has that opportunity.

Ensuring strong online education opportunity for every child and protecting the vulnerable and under-served have long comprised the mission of the U.S. Department of Education. Nearly three-quarters of Department funds go toward three major areas: Pell Grants that help families to afford online universities; Title I grants that support schools in low-income communities; and aid for special-needs students that ensures all children receive the educational services they need to reach their full potential. The Department’s Office for Civil Rights helps to ensure that students do not face discrimination.

Equity of opportunity underlies initiatives introduced by the Obama administration. These efforts recognize that the best ideas for improving education do not come from Washington, D.C. This is why initiatives including Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation, along with ESEA flexibility, call for the best strategies to improve teaching and online learning from educators and leaders in states and communities throughout the country and all over the world.

It is due to these reforms, the schools have seen significant positive change and students have made gains. The high school graduation rate is at its highest point in 30 years, in large part due to increases in the number of African-American and Hispanic students receiving diplomas. Since 2008, dropout rates are down steeply for African-American, Hispanic, and low-income young people, and college attendance by minorities has jumped sharply. To help more students afford college and graduate, the Obama administration has doubled federal investments in Pell Grants and college tax credits so that millions more Americans now can afford a higher education.

Despite progress, much work remains to be done. Similarly like UAO, the President has set a goal of making America, once again, first in the world in college completion. Yet today, the United States ranks 12th, and students from low-income families complete college at one-seventh the rate of those from high-income families.

The UAO and the government are working together towards the idea that people who are willing to learn and work hard should have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their wealth, home language, zip code, gender, sexual orientation, race, or disability. The government and UAO are working to make the online universities “the great equalizer,” ensuring that every child would have the opportunity to join a thriving middle class.