Education-Labor Collaboration Marks Important Beginning
What makes the tide of public opinion turn against the conventional wisdom? It can happen. I remember the nation slowly turning against the war in Vietnam. The struggle involved rancor and violence. One reason opinion shifted on Vietnam is that the military draft ensured that most families were personally touched by the war. The media played an important role, and major political leaders took sides, which created a very public debate.
Turning the tide today against the test-based accountability movement in public education brings a different kind of challenge. Less than a quarter of households have children in school with the rest less personally connected. The conversation is being driven by federal policy, and yet we know that education is low on list of issues that preoccupy the President. Neither any member of Congress nor a governor of any of the states has made improving the public schools a signature issue.
Despite these challenges, there has been some shifting of opinion. Although in 2002, the federal testing law No Child Left Behind passed with wide bipartisan support, today most people will at least quietly admit what data demonstrates: the law failed to improve student achievement overall or close achievement gaps. Many of us who have worked hard to discredit the law can tell you about the succession of white papers, joint sign-on statements, studies, and resolutions prepared, presented, and passed that have pushed this change along. Masses of articles and blog posts and books have helped, culminating perhaps in Diane