Teach Your Children
Class Description
In this meeting we will look at the history and state of K-12 education in America. In the history segment we will tour through time from colonial days to the present, noting significant events, trends and people who affected the journey to today’s highly decentralized, mostly publicly funded, school system. For those who want a head start on our K-12 school history I suggest viewing this short (~15 minute) video that describes the evolution of schools and education since our founding.
The structure of our education system and current performance relative to other developed nations will be examined. Then we look closely measures of performance in recent years, across states and across student populations, focusing on the steady drop in standardized test results over the last 20 or so years. We will also look at the different school models ranging from public to private to charter schools and the voucher system, with some unintended consequences. For those interested in a preview of the charter school paradigm I suggest viewing this recent report on the controversy. For a sneak peek at the voucher system controversy I suggest viewing this report, possibly followed by the current state of the issue in North Carolina reported here.
We will conclude with an effort to get to the root cause(s) of the current broad decline, as measured for example with SAT scores and NAEP testing, will an eye toward paths for improvement.
