I’m Pro-Choice: Families Should Choose (not Schools, Districts, or the State)
Choice is a popular buzz word these days in educational policy. It seems more and more that the word is used when choices in education are actually being reduced— when in fact someone else is actually doing the choosing besides families. In the case of school choice, it is exactly that, schools choose. How so you ask? Well, in the case of charters check out Breaking News: Kevin Welner’s Charter School Dirty Dozen. For the case of vouchers check out Impact on Access and Segregation: Are Vouchers a Panacea or Problematic? Pt. II
I have argued the same issue is at stake in the debate over the courses that are required by a states in graduation plans— therefore prioritized and rationed by districts in environments of education spending cuts. I recently testified on the rationing of education in the debate about curriculum and college readiness at the Texas State Board of Education meeting on the issue. See the post Invited Testimony: Same Shift, Different Day for Latinos and African Americans. This past week, the Daily Texan published a story on the college readiness and curriculum debate. Here are excerpts from the story.
The Texas State Board of Education’s vote to eliminate algebra II as a public high school graduation requirement will decrease the student body’s diversity and college readiness, according to associate professor of education Julian Heilig.The state’s minimum foundation program dictates the 22 credits a student must complete to graduate. The program will require three math credits instead of four after the changes go into effect for students entering high school in fall 2014.Heilig said African-American and Latino students disproportionately receive high school diplomas that have lower degree requirements. Heilig said measures such as House Bill 5, the bill that allowed for the elimination of the algebra II requirement, will have a disparate effect on the students.“Our state is changing, and we really want our University to represent the state,” Heilig said. “[If we] don’t