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There is a Belief that Schools Are Going Downhill... But There is More to the Story.
There is a Belief that Schools Are Going Downhill... But There is More to the Story.
Today's Education Policy Is the Result of Scare Tactics
Many don't realize that current education standards and assessment practices are a result of state and national policies enacted in the late 1990s and early 2000s, responding to concerns about the state of education raised in reports starting in the 1980s, most notably A Nation at Risk.
*Slightly truncated reproduction based on Hofferbert, 1974. The study of public policy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. Jacob ,Herbert, and Michael Lipsky.1968. Outputs,structure and power: An assessmentof changein the study of state and local politics. Journal of Politics,30 (May 1968).
High-stakes accountability is a self-perpetuating cycle.
Decades of Compliance Culture Net Negative Outcomes
Decades of Compliance Culture Net Negative Outcomes
'No Child Gets Ahead'
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted in 2001 and in full swing by 2005. It codified “challenging” state learning standards, measured by rigorous standardized assessments. USDOE, 2002 & ESSA, 2015
NCLB and accountability culture have netted zero gains for Grade 12 Math and Reading.
As School Poverty Rates Go Up, Math and Reading Mastery Rates Go Down
As School Poverty Rates Go Up, Math and Reading Mastery Rates Go Down
Each circle represents a campus. Free and Reduced Lunch is the rate of students receiving free or reduced lunch on a campus. Math Proficiency and Reading Proficiency are the rates of students on grade level at each campus based on 2019 state academic assessment results. Math R-squared = .36, p<.001; Reading R-squared = .43, p<.001; n=2,612. 1,566 campuses with masked or binned assessment data in either subject are excluded. USDoE EdFacts, NCES Common Core of Data.
The changes are most exaggerated in high-poverty schools, almost all of which limited offerings in response to NCLB.
Seventy-one percent of districts restricted curriculum offerings in response to NCLB. The number jumps to 97% when looking at campuses with at least 75% high-poverty students.
Rentner et al., 2006, p. 96
'Student engagement in a school day dedicated to test prep in a system that blames them for poor outcomes is low.'
Hearnsberger, 2021
Hearnsberger, 2021
Driven From the Profession
Driven From the Profession
The effect of all this compliance has been to drive teachers from the profession.
Erichsen & Reynolds, 2019
Erichsen & Reynolds, 2019
It has been most acutely damaging to high-poverty schools (García & Weiss, 2019) where F ratings are more likely (TEA, 2018a, 2019e; Swaby & Cai, 2019); morale is difficult to sustain (Erichsen & Reynolds, 2019); and struggling students are viewed as troublemakers (Nichols & Dawson, 2012).
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