Information provided by The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch and the 1983 Report, A Nation at Risk.
A Report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education United States Department of Education by the National Commission on Excellence in Education April 1983 warned that the United States would be harmed economically and socially unless education was improved for all children.
The 1983 report addressed problems that were essential to schooling such as curriculum, stronger high school graduation requirements, quality of textbooks, high standards for academic performance and student conduct, more time devoted to instruction and homework, and high standards for entry into the teaching profession and better salaries for teachers.
The report did not refer to market-based competition and choic, did not suggest restructuring schools or school systems, did not say to close schools, privatization, state takeover of districts, or heavy handed accountability. The report briefly mentioned testing.
The SAT scores declined between 1963 and 1980 - decline in the numbers of high scoring students on the SAT, lowered scores on standardized achievement test, large numbers of illiterate adults, approximately 23 million American adults were illiterate by the simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and comprehension, 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States were considered to be functionally illiterate and functional illiteracy among minority youth ran as high as 40 percent.
The primary cause of this was the steady erosion of the content of the curriculum.
Does this report still reflect our educational concerns that we have today?
Delmar DustPan: A Day In The Garden
2 weeks ago
1 comments:
YES, YES and YES! Our educational system in America is deplorable to say the least. We had such wonderful schools decades ago. What happened? I think Diane Ravitch knows and is trying so hard to reach out to our government so they can see the education doomsday ahead. No one is listening though. So many schools, teachers, and parents agree with her, but we feel so helpless. If all of us only knew how to let our voices be heard. I guess it could start at election time, but I'm dubious about that since Washington is always controlled by the good old boy"s system. It doesn't matter whether the Dems or Reps are in control.
system.
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