NCLB is not that old, and the downward trend predates it by quite a bit.
Our system does include local accountability. School boards are in charge. The main problem is that local governments can't do anything right.
But anyway, our system isn't actually that bad, if you aren't poor.
"The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this. The problem is not public schools; it is poverty. And as dozens of studies have shown, the gap in cognitive, physical, and social development between children in poverty and middle-class children is set by age three."
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Date: 17/2/11 21:50 (UTC)Our system does include local accountability. School boards are in charge. The main problem is that local governments can't do anything right.
But anyway, our system isn't actually that bad, if you aren't poor.
"The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this. The problem is not public schools; it is poverty. And as dozens of studies have shown, the gap in cognitive, physical, and social development between children in poverty and middle-class children is set by age three."
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=3781