It’s Not Just Connecticut: Problems with “Educational Reform” Come Directly from Washington - Jonathan Kantrowitz - Connecticut News

It’s Not Just Connecticut: Problems with “Educational Reform” Come Directly from Washington - Jonathan Kantrowitz - Connecticut News:

It’s Not Just Connecticut: Problems with “Educational Reform” Come Directly from Washington

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

A new study has found that across the country has found the the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program treats our lowest-performing schools as corporations and fails to engage educators and families in the most racially and socio-economically segregated communities. Their success or failure is tied mainly to the performance of their students on standardized tests, a new research brief finds.

Democratic School Turnarounds: Pursuing Equity and Learning from Evidence evaluated the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, which began under the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind Act and was substantially expanded by the Obama Administration as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009.

“The market-based character of turnaround policies diverts public attention from fundamental questions abo