THE SECRET THE HUCKSTERS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW: PUBLIC EUDCATION WORKS

ROBERT FREEMAN, DC TEACHER BLOG - Part of the problem [with our schools]
is that over the last two decades an intense lobby has emerged that
wants to turn public education over to private industry, make McStudents
of the nation's youth. It has operated a not-so-stealth campaign to
disparage public education and to try to convince Americans that it
isn't working. This campaign has mounted a relentless, mantra-like
vilification of public schools: schools are failing; teachers are lazy;
education bureaucracies are unresponsive; students are being cheated;
America is at risk. Sound familiar?

Some of this lobby's motivation is ideological: they dislike anything
that smacks of government control, the more so if the service is
effective, for such examples repudiate the theological superiority of
all things private. Some of its motivation is directed toward right-wing
social engineering: they want to control the curriculum that future
generations of American students must absorb. And much of it is simply
economic: these "prophets of profit" want to get their hands on the
$500+ billion that is spent every year in the U.S. on public K-12
education. . .

How would we know if public education is working or not? Probably the
most reliable, broad-based, long-term tool for measuring the quality of
public education is the Scholastic Aptitude Test. . . Because of its
long history, its nationwide reach, and its comprehensive nature, SAT
results transcend the negative one-off anecdotes commonly bandied about
to disparage public education. No other instrument even comes close to
equaling these strengths as a singular measure of national educational
progress. So what do the SAT's tell us about the performance of public
education in America?

Last year's SAT scores were the highest in 30 years. English scores were
the highest in 28 years. Math scores were the highest in 36 years. The
scores were at record levels for all ethic groups: whites;
Asian-Americans; African-Americans; Native Americans; and Latinos. And
they were achieved by the broadest test-taking pool in testing history.
Forty-eight per cent of the nation's 2.9 million high school seniors
took the test--a record. Thirty-six percent of the test takers were
minorities, another record.

Thirty years ago, only the most elite 15 percent of students took the
test. And remember, elites usually test better than averages. So the
fact that scores have gone up while the test-taking pool has gotten both
larger and more diverse may be the most powerful performance indicator
of all. . .

Against this record, those who would "privatize" public education have
virtually nothing to show for their decades of hucksterish claims. In
trial after trial, experiments with educational vouchers (the most
popular form of school privatization) have proven a bust. Voucher
programs in Milwaukee, New York, Washington D.C., and in Dayton and
Cleveland, Ohio have shown no long-term gains in student achievement. .
.

Nor do "charter schools" fare any better than voucher schools. . . In
August, after the most extensive examination in the history of the
country, the Department of Education published data showing charter
school students lag public schools students in almost every category of
performance. In math, fourth graders were a full half year behind public
school students. . .

http://thedcteacher.blogspot.com/

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