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: A Nation at Risk and the standards-based education reform movement?
April 26, 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education tendered their landmark report on the state of the American education system to then secretary of Education Terrel Bell. Many educators termed the report, A Nation at Risk, a politically motivated investigation meant to save the fledgling Department of Education and thus the job of Secretary Bell. Bell, realizing that his position was tenuous, said,
It soon became apparent to me that, if a nationwide study of the condition of education were to become a reality, the commission that carried out that study would have to be a Cabinet-level creation. In those days, I felt that my main mission on behalf of American education was damage control, and I believed that a major study of the condition of education would focus public attention on our schools and colleges and make it difficult politically to eliminate or significantly diminish the federal role ADDIN EN.CITE Hewitt2008883as cites in 576(as cites in Hewitt, 2008, p. 576)88388317Hewitt, Thomas W.Speculations on A Nation at Risk: illusions and realitiesPhi Delta KappanPhi Delta Kappan575-579898EDUCATIONAL changeGOVERNMENT policyEDUCATION -- StandardsEDUCATION -- United StatesHISTORYEDUCATION & stateUNITED StatesREAGAN, RonaldNATION at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, A (Book)2008Phi Delta Kappa International0031721731555710http://jiuproxy.egloballibrary.com/login?user=true&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31555710&site=ehost-liveaphEBSCOhost(as cites in Hewitt, 2008, p. 576).
With that statement, there was little doubt the report would be politically significant, support increased federal involvement in educational policies, and establish the viability of the new government agency. The legacy of the report has been a litany of educational reform movements that have lead to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) ADDIN EN.CITE ADDIN EN.CITE.DATA (Blake, 2008; Borek, 2008; Hewitt, 2008; Hunt, 2008).
A Nation at Risk addressed several areas of concern about academic excellence in American education. Their first concern was the 180-day school year and six hour school day that was present in the majority of the states. They suggested that the school year be extended to 220 days and the school day to seven hours. The second area of concern was teacher quality; citing that many teachers were from the bottom quarter of their class and implying that teachers did not know the material they were teaching. Next, the Commission suggested that the federal government should take both a leadership and fiscal role in reforming the education system. Finally, there was a call for increased rigor and, like the United Kingdom, a centralized, standardized national curriculum complete with common scope, pacing, and sequence ADDIN EN.CITE ADDIN EN.CITE.DATA (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Borek, 2008; Hewitt, 2008) .
In the 25 years since the release of A Nation at Risk, there have been a minimum of three reform movements. The first, according to Hunt (2008), was the excellence movement that attempted to increase standards for the students, as well as for classroom teachers, by tinkering with the conditions of teaching ADDIN EN.CITE Hunt2008885 581(p. 581)88588517Hunt, John W.A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind: Deja vu for Administrators?Phi Delta KappanPhi Delta Kappan580-585898EDUCATIONAL changeHISTORYSCHOOL administrators -- AttitudesEDUCATION -- United StatesEDUCATION & stateUNITED StatesUNITED States. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001NATION at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, A (Book)2008Phi Delta Kappa International0031721731555723http://jiuproxy.egloballibrary.com/login?user=true&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31555723&site=ehost-liveaphEBSCOhost(p. 581). Hunt (2008) continued by stating that this movement was marked by increased graduation requirements, longer school years, increased teacher certification requirements, and testing. The next evolution of reform was focused on restructuring schools and resulted in site-based management. The third movement that sprang from A Nation at Risk was the standards movement. This movement focused attention of what the teachers were doing in the classroom and how well the students preformed academically. The tenets of this movement are reflected in basics of NCLB ADDIN EN.CITE Hunt2008885(Hunt, 2008)88588517Hunt, John W.A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind: Deja vu for Administrators?Phi Delta KappanPhi Delta Kappan580-585898EDUCATIONAL changeHISTORYSCHOOL administrators -- AttitudesEDUCATION -- United StatesEDUCATION & stateUNITED StatesUNITED States. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001NATION at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, A (Book)2008Phi Delta Kappa International0031721731555723http://jiuproxy.egloballibrary.com/login?user=true&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31555723&site=ehost-liveaphEBSCOhost(Hunt, 2008).
Blake (2008) points out that the past 25 years, from A Nation at Risk to NCLB, has been a journey fraught with smoke and mirrors; more tests, more federal control, more political turf to protect, and more, and more, and more. She closes her article with the following:
We must ask ourselves if the education reforms that followed A Nation at Risk have furthered the progress of the human mind or moved us in the opposite direction. The reforms coming from A Nation at Risk have seemed less concerned with producing generations of critical or creative thinkers than with satisfying a range of competing agendas. If we develop education systems that produce independent thinkers, not parrots of facts and ideas, we should be better prepared as a nation to confront an unknown future ADDIN EN.CITE ADDIN EN.CITE.DATA (p. 602).
This leads us to ask the following: Have the reforms that grew from A Nation at Risk actually turned our students into master test takers who can pass a mandated test but cannot creatively solve a problem?
References
ADDIN EN.REFLIST Berliner, D. C., & Biddle, B. J. (1995). The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud,and Attacks on America's Public Schools. New York: Basic Books.
Blake, S. (2008). A Nation at Risk and the blind men. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(8), 601-602.
Borek, J. (2008). A Nation at Risk at 25. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(8), 572-574.
Hewitt, T. W. (2008). Speculations on A Nation at Risk: illusions and realities. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(8), 575-579.
Hunt, J. W. (2008). A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind: Deja vu for Administrators? Phi Delta Kappan, 89(8), 580-585.
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