Education Reform Is Malpractice
Irony is often amusing. When the future of millions of children is at stake -- not so much.
The tragic irony in education is that the policies and practices enacted in response to concerns over low achievement will further disable a generation of children already hobbled by poverty. Education reform is educational malpractice and is disproportionally affecting young girls and boys of color in the least privileged communities.
Many others (and I) have revealed the perils of privatization, fraud in public schools, the deception of the charter movement, the massive influence of Pearson and other profiteers, and the negative effects of the testing and accountability era on most children and teachers. Nonetheless, I think we underestimate the deeper damage being done to poor children of color in the service of so-called reform.
Political rhetoric about an education crisis has gone on unabated since the 1983 publication, A Nation at Risk. That "call to action" has been fully discredited in subsequent years, but has driven horrible policy ever since. It is as though we have administered chemotherapy to a generation of kids who actually didn't have cancer. It has, as you might expect, made them sick.
For privileged kids the effect is less grave. Affluent communities have richer resources, more early childhood opportunities and have been able to resist the incessant pounding of reform either explicitly or subversively. Parents in these communities have social and political capital. Many schools have resisted testing and test prep. Pre-school and kindergarten programs have remained play-based and joyful. While the overall impact of education reform has been irritating and distracting, it has not significantly changed daily life in most schools in privileged communities.
The real target of education reform is the so-called achievement gap between white and black, rich and poor. On various measures, particularly the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the gap in test scores has been relatively consistent for more than 20 years. But rather than respond to the poverty and racism that surely account for this gap, reformers have prescribed some stern educational medicine: Rigor, early academics, strict discipline, high expectations, "no excuses," longer school Education Reform Is Malpractice | Steve Nelson:
