“A Seismic Shift in Educational Policy”
A recent article for the New Republic argues for common education standards as a means to improve the U.S. public school system.
Thanks in part to this left-right alliance, attempts to formulate common standards died in their inchoate phases under both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. And even the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001–the most ambitious federal attempt ever to hold failing schools accountable–left the question of what, exactly, students should be learning up to individual states.
The results have been depressing. Not wanting their schools to be labeled as failing, many states have watered down their standards–a trend that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has correctly called “a race to the bottom.” Expectations for students are therefore often embarrassingly low. Consider that, last year, 86 percent of New York eighth-graders were proficient in math based on the state’s exam–but only 34 percent were proficient according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is given to students nationwide. A system that could produce that kind of statistical gap is clearly one in need of reform.
Surprisingly, reform is coming from individual states themselves, 48 of whom participated in drafting a set of more rigorous standards, along with the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. These standards would be applied to all states who voluntarily adopt them. The editors of the New Republic see this as a “seismic shift in education policy.” For more, read on here.
