An American education system in crisis

Diane Ravich, in the New York Review of Books, bemoans the state of education in the United States – a system crippled by misguided Bush-era policy and ever-declining test scores; test scores, in themselves (or more the obsession with them), playing a large role in the whole problem. She concludes:

When test scores become the goal of education by which students and schools are measured, then students in the bottom half—who will inevitably include disproportionate numbers of children who are poor, children with disabilities, children who barely speak English—will be left far behind, stigmatized by their low scores. If we were to focus on the needs of children, we would make sure that every pregnant woman got good medical care and nutrition, since many children born to women without them tend to have learning disabilities. We would make sure that children in poor communities have high-quality early childhood education so that they arrive in school ready to learn. We would insist that their teachers be trained to support their social, emotional, and intellectual development and to engage local communities on behalf of their children, as Dr. James Comer of Yale University has insisted for many years. And we would have national policies whose goal is to reduce poverty by expanding economic opportunity.

Read her whole piece. In particular, take note of the passage on the 'No Child Left Behind' legislation, which she aptly describes as "a public policy disaster of epic proportions," and adds, poignantly, that "Congress has been unable to reach consensus about changing it." (Photo: Children on the playground of Fairbanks Elementary School, Springfield, Missouri. Eli Reed/Magnum Photos.)