Diane Ravitch considers Obama’s education agenda here.
She makes three recommendations:
1. Eliminate No Child Left Behind’s goal of universal proficiency by 2014.
2. Empower the federal government to oversee curriculum standards and testing.
3. Expect states and districts to fashion appropriate reforms and remedies in their schools.
The first recommendation is sensible.
The second recommendation, which would politicize the curriculum, can be dangerous. I mean, do we want questions about Robert Byrd and Harry Reid to appear on a national civics test? That said, the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) must continue (and perhaps administered yearly rather than biennially) because it has been a powerful check on states with weak accountability systems, e.g., North Carolina.
The third recommendation is fine, but I wonder why Ravitch believes that states can be trusted with reforms and remedies but not curriculum and testing.
Ravitch’s concludes,
One thing we have learned since the passage of NCLB nearly seven years ago is that Congress is not the right place to decide how to fix our schools. Furthermore, if we don’t have the right vision for improving education, more money won’t help.
Again, if Congress is not the right place to decide how to fix our schools, how can it be the right place to decide what kids need to know?
