What it Will Take to
Turn Education Around
December 13, 2005
Lynn M. Stuter
In 1983 a report was written, A Nation At Risk. In the next fifteen
years this report would be much quoted and would become the springboard
for education transformation. Few knew then what the ramifications of
that report would be.
Now, twenty years later, the American education system is no longer at risk,
its in critical condition. Children attending government schools are not
being educated for intelligence, they are being educated only to the extent
that they can fill a slot in the workforce. Without exception, children
attending government schools are being dumbed down.
While state departments of education expound loud and long about the rise in
“test” scores, the test being used to determine those “rising scores”
isn’t a test at all but an assessment; a subjective measure of whether
the child is demonstrating mastery of equally subjective state exit outcomes
(by whatever named called) that align with the eight national goals of
Goals 2000 and the SCANS (Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary
Skills) competencies.
The assessments are neither valid nor reliable, made very apparent in Washington
State by people scoring those assessments who have come forward to say
that the scores can be manipulated in a multitude of ways to achieve the
overall score wanted by the head of the department of education. Manipulating
the scores, of course, keeps the money pouring in but does nothing to
change the fact that the system is a total and complete failure.
Recently we learned that in Washington State the assessment is not costing the
$30,000,000 claimed by the head of the department of education, Terry
Bergeson, but at least twice that amount, or $60,000,000 every time the
assessment is given. And the assessment is neither valid nor reliable.
And none of this takes into account the billions of taxpayer dollars that
have been spent in completely overhauling the education system to achieve
its current critical condition status. That money was spent transforming
from a system that could be fixed to a system that is completely untenable,
at the same time lining the pockets of people and companies involved with
the cooperation of elected officials.
Recently the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF), located in proximity to the capitol
buildings in Olympia, Washington, produced a slick booklet that culminated
with its recommendations of what needs to happen to turn education around
in Washington State.
Unfortunately, the EFF failed to address the one overriding issue that must be addressed
before any of the recommendations made in its slick booklet can even be
thought about — the de facto contracts the states have entered into in
taking federal grant money.
Chief US District Court Judge Bernard A Friedman, based in eastern Michigan,
made it very clear in dismissing the case brought by the NEA and several
state affiliated teacher unions against the federal government regarding
the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB), stating that Congress “has appropriated
significant funds” and has the power to require states to set educational
standards in exchange for federal money. He further stated that NCLB
“cannot be reasonably interpreted to prohibit Congress itself from offering
federal funds on the condition that states and school districts comply
with the many statutory requirements, such as devising and administering
tests, improving test scores and training teachers.”
Of course, one should ask how the judge defines “test” as what he refers to is not
a test but a subjective, behaviorally oriented assessment.
It is pretty obvious that the NEA and state affiliated teacher unions aren’t
going to take on the federal government on the grounds that the system
that has been implemented, via federal grant money in the form of de facto
contracts, isn’t about educating children for intelligence as the NEA
and state affiliates have long been proponents of education that dumbed
down children.
By all appearances the NEA and state affiliates are suing because teachers are
now being assessed on whether their students are demonstrating the wanted
behaviors (team players, critical thinking, communications, making decisions,
adapting to change and understanding whole systems) as determined by the
state constructed and federally required assessment vehicle. That assessment
of the teacher directly reflects on the teacher’s salary, future education
requirements, and future employment as a teacher.
Beyond the obvious conflict now coming into play with the largest teacher union
in the United States, albeit that conflict does not address the real issues
of education transformation, is the fact that the judge made it very clear
that, in taking the federal grant money, states have entered into contracts
with the federal government that are legal and binding and enforceable.
This is something many of us who have researched the burgeoning boondoggle
of education transformation have said for a long time, and something that
state departments of education have vehemently denied.
As with everything else, the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle also applies
with education — that which is simplest is always the best and the most
effective; the fact that home schools are producing the most highly educated
and intelligent young adults across the nation is testament to the KISS
principle. Why is that? Because the focus is on educating the child for
intelligence instead of psycho-education, i.e. behavioral education intended
to produce a cooperative, collaborative, teamplayer, not too well educated,
but willing to work for minimal compensation for the greater good of the
collective whole — the worldclass worker of the 21st century defined.
America’s Choice: high skills or low wages!, the report of the Commission
on the Skills of the American Workforce (CSAW), a commission of the National
Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE), made it very clear. Much
touted as a catalyst to education transformation, one sentence in the
entire report is consistently ignored:
“But in a broad survey of employment needs across America, we found little evidence
of a far-reaching desire for a more educated workforce.”
It means just exactly what it says. America’s Choice: high skills or low
wages! preceded the SCANS commission, many of the same people
who sat on the CSAW commission also sitting on the SCANS commission, appointed
by none other than Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Labor to President George
Herbert Walker Bush (Senior) and wife of Senator Bob Dole. Is it any wonder
then that the SCANS competencies align to the recommendations of America’s
Choice: high skills or low wages! as do the eight “education”
goals of the Goals 2000: Educate America act, as do the various state
exit outcomes?
I recently queried my representatives to the Washington State Legislature regarding
why the Washington Assessment of Student Learning — the infamous WASL,
neither valid nor reliable, was not being addressed by the Legislature.
The following, in part, was a response to my query:
“…the votes to eliminate the WASL by a majority vote in the legislature is, at this
time, not possible. To campaign and get enough votes to eliminate the
WASL would be futile at this time because of the strong support from
the superintendent of public instruction, the state board of education,
the teachers’ union, the governor and, as mentioned, the legislature.”
This missive, however, failed to mention the overriding issue — the fifty states,
comprising the United States, have spent billions of taxpayer dollars
in pursuit of a system of education to dumb down children to become the
worldclass workers of the 21st century. States and state legislatures
are unable to redeem themselves because they ceded control to the federal
government who has no intention of relinquishing the power and control
it has garnered willingly.
In 1983, A Nation At Risk made the following statement:
“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational
performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act
of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We
have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake
of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support
systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect,
been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.”
That act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament is, in 2005, pretty
much complete, resulting in the destruction of the lives of the thousands
of children held captive in the failing government schools.
That failure cannot be effectively addressed and changed until the federal
government is given the boot.
© 2003 Lynn M. Stuter - All Rights Reserved
Mother and wife, Stuter has spent the past ten years researching systemstheory with a particular emphasis on education. She home schooled twodaughters, now grown and on their own. She has worked with legislators,both state and federal, on issues pertaining to systems governance and education reform.
She networks nation-wide with other researchers andcitizens concerned with the transformation of our nation. She has
traveled the United States and lived overseas. Web site: http://www.learn-usa.com/
E-Mail: lmstuter@mail.icehouse.net
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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