Schools Matter: Our Reform Proposal

Schools Matter: Our Reform Proposal:

Our Reform Proposal

by Stephen Krashen, Susan Ohanian, and Jim Horn

Research studies over the past half-century show the effects of poverty and segregation as major factors determining school achievement. Our proposal would protect children who are being harmed by the impact of poverty, segregation, and standardized tests. 

In order for no children to be left behind, then, we propose, 

No child left unfed: proper nutrition for all children for breakfast and lunch. No child without proper health care; 

No child segregated by ethnicity, ability, or economic class;

No child without access to a well-supplied library with a credentialed librarian; 

No child exposed to unsafe and unsecured technologies;

No unnecessary testing.

The best teaching in the world will have a severely limited effect if children are hungry, ill, segregated, and without learning resources.

AND of course we recommend: free espresso available in the teachers' lounge.

References

When we control for the effect of poverty, American test scores are near the top of the world: 

Payne, K. and Biddle, B. 1999. Poor school funding, child poverty, and mathematics achievement.
Educational Researcher 28 (6): 4-13. 

Bracey, G. 2009. The Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. http://epicpolicy.org/publication/Bracey-Report. 

Berliner, D. 2011. The Context for Interpreting PISA Results in the USA: Negativism, Chauvinism, Misunderstanding, and the Potential to Distort the Educational Systems of Nations. In Pereyra, M., Kottoff, H-G., & Cowan, R. (Eds.). PISA under examination: Changing knowledge, changing tests, and changing schools. Amsterdam: Sense Publishers.

Tienken, C. 2010. Common core state standards: I wonder? Kappa Delta Phi Record 47 (1): 14-17. Carnoy, M and Rothstein, R. 2013, What Do International Tests Really Show Us about U.S. Student Performance.Washington DC: Economic Policy Institute. 2012. http://www.epi.org/

Negative effect of poverty on school achievement: 

Berliner, D. 2009. Poverty and Potential:  Out-of-School Factors and School Success.  Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. Retrieved [date] fromhttp://epicpolicy.org/publication/poverty-and-potential 

No unnecessary testing: 

Kohn, A. 2000. The Case Against Standardized Testing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishing Company.
Nichols, S., Glass, G., and Berliner, D. 2006. High-stakes testing and student achievement: Does accountability increase student learning? Education Policy Archives 14(1) 
 http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v14n1/

Segregation:

Rumberter, R. and Palardy, G. 2005. Does segregation still matter? The impact of student composition of academic achievement in high school. Teachers College Record 107(9): 1999-2045.

Rothstein, R.  2014.The Racial Achievement Gap, Segregated Schools, and Segregated Neighborhoods – A Constitutional Insult.  Economic Policy Institute. http://www.epi.org/publication/the-racial-achievement-gap-segregated-schools-and-segregated-neighborhoods-a-constitutional-insult/
  
Johnson, R.C. 2011. Long-run Impacts of School Desegregation & School Quality on Adult Attainments. NBER Working Paper No. 16664
. Revised August 2015

 Schools Matter: Our Reform Proposal: