Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Don’t fix what isn’t broken: Why Betsy DeVos’ radical agenda for U.S. public education makes no sense [feedly]

Don't fix what isn't broken: Why Betsy DeVos' radical agenda for U.S. public education makes no sense
http://www.epi.org/blog/dont-fix-what-isnt-broken-why-betsy-devos-radical-agenda-for-u-s-public-education-makes-no-sense/

As the Senate prepares to vote on the nomination of Betsy DeVos, President Trump's pick for secretary of education, it is critical to confront a key (but not always explicit) assumption. DeVos asserts that "U.S. schools are failing," and many senators assume that to be the case. But is this true? And if so, in what ways? Answering these questions is very important, as strategies to fix failing schools should be very different from those designed to improve schools that are already doing well.

new analysis of changes in U.S. student performance over the past decade strongly suggests that our nation's schools are not failing. Rather, they have made real progress on two related issues we care deeply about: boosting student achievement and closing race-based achievement gaps. This analysis, by economists Martin Carnoy of Stanford University and EPI's Emma Garcia, uses a reliable and valid gauge—reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as "the Nation's Report Card."

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