Twenty-Five Years Later, A Nation Still at Risk (Education)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 26 April 2008 | CHESTER E. FINN JR.

[shrinkermd]

Today marks the 25th anniversary of "A Nation at Risk," the influential Reagan-era report by a blue-ribbon panel that alerted Americans to the weak performance of our education system. The report warned of a "rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people." That dire forecast set off a quarter century of education reform that's yielded worthy changes – yet still not the achievement gains we need to turn back the tide of mediocrity.

...We're also far more open to charter schools, vouchers, virtual schools, home schooling. And we no longer suppose kids must attend the campus nearest home. A majority of U.S. students now study either in bona fide "schools of choice," or in neighborhood schools their parents chose with a realtor's help.

Those are historic changes indeed – most of today's education debates deal with the complexities of carrying them out. Yet our school results haven't appreciably improved, whether one looks at test scores or graduation rates. Sure, there are up and down blips in the data, but no big and lasting changes in performance, even though we're also spending tons more money. (In constant dollars, per-pupil spending in 1983 was 56% of today's.)

And just as "A Nation at Risk" warned, other countries are beginning to eat our education lunch. While our outcomes remain flat, theirs rise. Half a dozen nations now surpass our high-school and college graduation rates. International tests find young Americans scoring in the middle of the pack.

What to do now? It's no time to ease the push for a major K-12 education make-over – or to settle (as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton apparently would) for reviving yesterday's faith in still more spending and greater trust in educators. But we can distill four key lessons

[CRBDeuce]

School boards and administrations are no longer held accountable Right away I was liking what you were saying...and you went on to expand the list...so...DoE, NEA, SEAs, Allthe'EA's, textbook publishers, School boards, administrators, custodians, are no longer held accountable. Like any bureacracy, the bureacracy that was originally designed to 'assist' the teacher is now an impediment to both the teacher and the student (and for that matter, his parents). The NEA has introduced a level of insanity into school programs that, as you so eloquently state, totally detract from education basics....oh, and I liked your step #12!

[CRBDeuce]

...as did our founding fathers, restricting ‘voting’ to property owners. Methinks they had something there!

[Lucky Dog]

Thanks... Feel free to forward to your congressmen and state legislators.