Bureaucracy Assignment - Research Paper Example

The development of science and technology during the 1950s and 60s called for an increased in education funding which later expanded to education of the poor, minorities, women, the disabled and foreign nationals. This led to the passage of a Public Law Act for the creation of a Department of Education Organization in 1979. The main priorities of this department was to ensure equal access to education for all, to improve the quality of education, involve both parents and public in matters of education, increase federal research and support, improve coordination, management and efficiency of federal education programs and increase the accountability of such programs to the President.

While the initial purpose of the department is being upheld till date, the increasing global competitiveness has also increased the need to prepare the American students to face this challenged through fostering excellent educational opportunities to all classes of people. The present Secretary of the US Department of Education is Arne Duncun. He was nominated by the President-elect Barack Obama to be the secretary of education and the US Senate confirmed his position on the Inauguration Day in 2009.

The major goal of the department of education is to ensure equal access to education for all and also to improve the excellence of education throughout the country. The secretary in the Department of Education coordinates, supervises and directs all the activities within the department in addition to performing the role of the principle advisor to the President in matters concerning federal policies, programs and other related events in the field of education. The secretary remains the Chief Operating Officer of the Department and is followed in succession by the deputy and under Secretary, General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer.

The Deputy Secretary in the Department of Education is responsible for developing and implementing educational policies and programs for the elementary and secondary educational programs, which involves providing a safe and drug-free environment in schools, special education for students with disabilities and rehabilitative education for those coming from a culturally different background and development of interventional education programs and reforms. The Under Secretary is concerned with postsecondary, higher and adult educational policies and programs, college aids and reforms for the Presidential Pell Grant program.

The secretary is supported by members who constitute the immediate office of the secretary. They are required to provide logistics support and advice to the secretary. The members include the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy and Policy and Programs, Senior Advisor and White House Liaison. The immediate office of the Secretary in turn directs the executive management staff who provide administrative and management services, scheduling and advance staff who are concerned with managing the daily information needs of the office of the Secretary and logistics, the executive secretariat tracks all the correspondence between the offices of the Secretary, Deputy and Under Secretary, the White house initiative in tribal colleges and university staff seeks to ensure the tribal colleges are granted proper accreditation in addition to gaining federal grants and high-quality education for all, the International Affairs Office offers advice on international issues and initiatives that may affect the educational polic