School Reform

     The last major school reform happened with the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.   This act not only expanded the federal role in public education, but also put a greater emphasis on disadvantaged children.   This landmark act, criticized by teachers, teacher unions, and local school board members around the country was nevertheless adopted.   The end results of NCLB are mixed.  The Journal of Policy Analysis indicated that, NCLB generated statistically significant increases in the average math performance of 4th graders as well as improvements at the lower and top percentiles. There is also evidence of improvements in 8th grade math achievement, particularly among traditionally low-achieving groups and at the lower percentiles. However, there was no evidence that NCLB increased reading achievement in either 4th or 8th grade.

     I have mixed feelings regarding the policies that were forced upon school districts and teachers because of  the implementation of NCLB.  Yes, the end effects of the test data held schools accountable, but the mixed data and flawed system of helping low performing schools while penalizing top performing schools is not sustainable for the long term goals of public education.  Educational historian and National Education Associate honorary recipient Diane Ravitch said it best when he stated, “By the last count, about half the schools in the U.S. are now labeled to be “failing schools.” The number will rise with every year as we get closer to 2014, because it is an impossible goal. No state has 100 percent proficiency; no country in the world has 100 percent proficiency.”  (Hudson, 2012)

     The implementation of NCLB is an example of federal level politicians devising a universal educational paradigm for the masses, while bypassing the true stakeholders of public education. 

     For far too long, politicians have made decisions for and about education without asking or listening to the input of educators.  It is time that educators take back their profession and start making the decisions that they know to be best for education and students.  You wouldn’t take a dance teacher from his/ her classroom to run a fortune 500 company with no experience in business, so why do educators allow the education system to be conducted in a similar fashion?  Education needs a change in order to have a positive shift into the future.

     The David School operates on an entirely different set up policies and guidelines that a traditional public school setting. The stakeholders of this educational institution are set primarily around its students, teachers, and community members.   This school bypasses state and federal educational guidelines.  This school is founded on Christian values and works at giving its students real life skills which helps them compete in the labor market.  The David Schools principle vision is stated on sustainable employment for all of its students.   This school’s mission and philosophy is more closely aligned to a technical school than a public school way of thinking.  

                                                            References


Hudson, J. (2012, January 21). Ravitch: 'No CHild Left Behind has been a disaster'. The Davis Enterprise, p. 4.

Published: Thomas S. Dee & Brian Jacob, 2011. "The impact of no Child Left Behind on student    achievement," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 418-446, Summer.