Student Achievement, Policy and Responsibility

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between studentsʼ academic achievement and the responsibility for education through the educational policy framework. Firstly, the framework of educational policy based on the production function approach to the determination of achievement is introduced and the two characteristics of this framework which are closely related to responsibility in education are pointed out. The first point is that student achievement is a joint product produced not only by factors in schools, such as teacher qualifications, but also by student effort and family educational background. This characteristic means that it is difficult to force liability for the product on the school. The second point is that the production function is closely related to economic responsibilities, which should determine how costs of education, public or private, are shared from the resources being invested in education. If the production function for schools were known, it would then bepossible to predict what would happen if resources were added or subtracted, and to analyze the actions that should be taken. Previous research, however, does not show clear evidence useful for decisions on the reallocation of resourcesand actions. Considering the difficulties of measurement and the two characteristics of the educational production function, an opinion survey on educational needs will be necessary to provide a better understanding for policy directions. We conducted an opinion survey on education and social policy, including social concern and the willingness to pay taxes toward some educational and social problems. The main result of the analysis is as follows. The policy for improving student achievement in primary education is the highest priority among other educational policies, such as the quality and equality of higher education. However, overall educational policy had the lowest priority compared with medical and social security policies. According to the analysis of the determinant factor of social concern and the willingness to pay taxes, age is strongest factor in deciding social policy preference. This silver politics is what results in the lowest priority in society being given to education. Lastly, we discuss future policy issues for improving student achievement and education by balancing the financial budgetary view of total social policy.