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Education: Part I
Public School Academic Performance
http://www.schoolchoices.org/roo/academic.htm
In the 1980’s the nation was being told that student achievement had
stagnated or fallen in most subjects since 1970, with the largest and most
thoroughly established decline occurring in basic literacy.
Well recognized tests of student achievement:
• National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)
• International Evaluation of Education Achievement (IEA)
• Young Adult Literacy Survey (YALS)
• National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)
• International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS).
• Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS).
Public School Academic Performance
•
The 2012 NAEP report showed that the average mathematics and
science scores have increased at a slow rate over the past 30 years.
•
This trend held true for all racial and ethnic categories
•
Reading achievement scores showed the same trend, but at a slower
rate than for math and science scores.
Public School Academic Performance
•
Although performance in mathematics, science, and reading have
improved steadily in the United States, these increases are occurring at
a slower rate compared with student performance scores in leading
competitor countries.
•
Compared with parents in China, Taiwan, and Japan, American parents
tend to be the most satisfied with their local schools, while their children
have the worst performance overall.
Suggestions for Change
• Privatization: Contracting school services to private companies.
• Facilities and grounds.
• Food.
• Teacher training.
• Curriculum development.
• The entire school!
• School vouchers: Government supported payments to parents to send
their children to private schools.
• No Child Left Behind: Government-sponsored program of accountability
using incentives and punishments to improve the performance of public
schools.
Privatization
• Contracted Services
• Long history of success in the United States.
• Teacher Education.
• Textbooks.
• Curriculums.
• Teacher in-service training.
• Maintenance and grounds.
• Computer technology.
• Food service.
Privatization
• Religion-Based Schools:
• Long history of success in the United States.
• Parents and students prefer a religion-based definition of values as
part of the school curriculum and experience.
• Secular-Based Elite Schools:
• Long history of success in the United States.
• Parents and students prefer an experience with more highly
motivated students and more control over disruptive students or ones
who require more attention.
• Secular-Based Special Schools:
• Long history of success in the United States.
• Catered to students with special needs (e.g., disabilities) or interests
(e.g., arts).
School Vouchers
School vouchers are government supported payments to parents to send
their children to private schools.
Arguments in Support of Vouchers
• Rich parents have a choice of schools for their kids; poor parents should
have the same.
• Competition among schools leads to greater efficiency.
• Private schools have a better history of getting results.
• Parents who send their kids to private schools pay twice (i.e., taxes for
public schools and fees for private schools).
• Private school vouchers will increase diversity.
• Not all private schools are religion-based institutions.
School Vouchers
School vouchers are government supported payments to parents to send
their children to private schools.
Arguments in Opposition to Vouchers
• Most private schools are religion-based institutions; therefore,
government funding violates 1st Amendment.
• Vouchers take money away from public schools, which are a public
good.
• Private schools are not accountable to any oversight organization; thus,
they may not act responsibly.
• Public schools must accept everyone; private schools can pick who they
want to teach.
School Vouchers
General Comments About Vouchers
• To some extent, the discussion about vouchers represents an extension
of the culture wars to the school system. Parents who want their
children to have a religious-based education do not want to have to pay
for education twice.
• After Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), which forced integration of
schools, many white parents moved to the suburbs or sought private
schools for their children (i.e., “white flight”). Providing these persons
vouchers for private schools “rewards” their interest in segregated
schools.
• Experts become concerned that if school systems become highly
segregated, then social cohesion and social solidarity will decrease.
• Experts become concerned that “those left behind” will experience a far
inferior education.
No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
Provisions of the Act
• Aimed at improving the performance of public schools by increasing the
standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools, as
well as providing more flexibility for parents to select schools (using
vouchers).
• Schools have to make “adequate yearly progress,” as determined by the
state, by raising the achievement levels of subgroups of students, such
as African Americans, Latinos, low-income students, and special
education students.
• If a school does not meet target levels (after repeated attempts), funds
can be reduced.
No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
Teachers must:
• Possess at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Past state tests of proficiency.
Students must:
• Make progress in reading and math.
No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
Arguments in Support of the Act (Based upon the 2005 NAEP)
• More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the past five
years than in the previous 28 years combined.
• America’s nine-year-olds posted the best reading and math scores since
the early 1970’s.
• America’s 13-year-olds earned the highest math scores the NAEP has
ever recorded.
• Reading and math scores for African-American and Hispanic 13-yearolds reached an all-time high.
• Achievement gaps between whites, blacks, and Hispanic nine-year-olds
are at an all time low.
• Forty-three states either improved academically are held steady in all
categories.
No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
Arguments in Opposition to the Act
• The administration has never fully funded the act, leaving the burden to
the states.
• The system of incentives and penalties sets up a strong motivation for
schools, districts, and states to manipulate test results (e.g., exclude
minorities from testing; reclassification of drop-outs).
• The Act encourages teachers to “teach to the test.” Narrow subject
areas and specialized skills are taught to the detriment of a broad-based
education, creative expression, and critical thinking skills.
• The system encourages setting low expectations of students, to increase
segregation by class and race, and to push low-performing students out
of school altogether.
• The Act requires that schools supply the military with the names and
addresses of all students.
Notes Regarding “White Flight” (See: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia).
• “White flight” is a colloquial term for the demographic trend of upper and
middle class Americans (predominantly white) moving away from the
inner cities (predominantly non-white) to the suburbs.
• Although Americans who could afford to do so moved to the suburbs
during the post-WWII period, this out-migration from the inner city
increased dramatically as school systems began to comply with the
Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Topeka, Kansas Board of Education.
• White flight was enforced by “redlining” of suburban communities,
wherein persons of color were formally and informally prohibited from
purchasing suburban homes.
• The inertia of white flight further increased as property values and
therefore local government revenues for inner city infrastructure
maintenance leaked to the suburbs.
Sociological Implications
Functionalism
• Students can experience a learning environment that suits their needs
and interests.
• Private schools might be able to operate more efficiently than public
schools.
• Private schools might require that students exhibit greater personal
responsibility for their education and the education of others.
Sociological Implications
Functionalism
• A healthy democracy requires that citizens learn and appreciate the
legitimacy of diverse points of view. A school system that is highly
segregated by class, religious beliefs, race, or ethnicity might produce
citizens that do not understand or legitimate the opinions or experiences
of others.
• The result might be lowered social cohesion (sense of “we-ness”) and
social solidarity (willingness to work with one another).
• Only a small minority of students can afford to attend private schools. If
funds for public schools decline as a result of decreased support or if the
best and brightest students migrate to private schools, then students who
remain in public schools might experience a significantly lower quality
education.
Sociological Implications
Marxian
• If a private school education is available only to the affluent, then the
advantages of a private education would accrue only to the affluent,
thereby reproducing their advantage.
• The affluent might not learn the experiences of the less affluent.
• The less affluent might not learn the experiences of the more affluent.
• Dysfunctional cultural barriers between classes might be reinforced by an
affluent private education.
Sociological Implications
Symbolic Interactionism
• A highly segregated school system might teach highly segregated
meaning systems.
• Students with different backgrounds might not learn the experiences and
opinions of people with different social-demographic backgrounds.
• Labor-force participants who experienced highly different educational
backgrounds might find it difficult to communicate and work effectively
with one another in the work place.