Betsy DeVos’s formula for success: Trash public schools and push privatization
When U.S Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos discussed the results from the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, she described them as “devastating” and part of a worsening crisis in education.
The results showed a slight decline in reading scores and a flattening in math scores.
She noted that two out of three of the nation’s children aren’t proficient in reading. She also decried as ineffective the US$1 trillion in federal spending on education over the past 40 years, saying it has done nothing to stop the widening gap between the highest and lowest performing students.
“We cannot abide these poor results any longer,” DeVos stated. “We can neither excuse them away nor simply throw more money at the problem.”
As an education scholar, here are several issues that I see with DeVos’ take on the state of American education.
1. DeVos continues to trash public education
DeVos’s comments are part of a long-running critique of American primary and secondary school education.
“This country is in a student achievement crisis, and over the past decade it has continued to worsen, especially for our most vulnerable students,” DeVos stated.
In this, the education secretary follows a long line of critics – from former secretaries of education William J. Bennett and Margaret Spellings to author George H. Smith – who see American schooling as a shambles, dating back to the famous 1983 “A Nation at Risk” report, which criticized mediocre academic performance as being akin to an “act of war.”
2. DeVos uses test scores to push her privatization agenda
DeVos uses the “student achievement crisis” turned up by the latest national test scores to urge support for alternatives to public K-12 education. For instance, when she spoke about “expanding education freedom,” she is alluding to greater support for voucher systems and CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos’s formula for success: Trash public schools and push privatization – Raw Story
