Part 2 of Larry Stedman’s analysis of the failure of the standards movement, just published by Critical Education.
Why the Standards Movement Failed: An Educational and Political Diagnosis of Its Failure and the Implications for School Reform
Lawrence C. Stedman
Abstract
In the first paper, “How Well Does the Standards Movement Measure Up?,” I documented the movement’s failure in diverse areas—academic achievement, equality of opportunity, quality of learning, and graduation rates—and described its harmful effects on students and school culture.
In this paper, I diagnose the reasons for the failure and propose an alternative agenda for school reform. I link the failure of the standards movement to its faulty premises, historical myopia, and embrace of test-driven accountability. As part of the audit culture and the conservative restoration, the movement ended up pushing a data-driven, authoritarian form of schooling. Its advocates blamed educational problems on a retreat from standards, for which there was little evidence, while ignoring the long-standing, deep structure of schooling that had caused persistent achievement problems throughout the 20th century. Drawing on reproduction theories and analyses of the neoliberal reform project, I make the case for repealing NCLB and Race to the Top and outline a progressive framework for reconstructing schools.
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How not to run a university (Prologue + Trilogy)
Here are links to E. Wayne Ross’ commentaries on the ongoing leadership crisis at the University of British Columbia. All the commentaries have appeared on his blog and several have also appeared in the Vancouver Observer:
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Posted in Academic freedom, Academics, Accountability, Administration, Bullying & Mobbing, Commentary, Corporate University, Free speech, Governance
Tagged Academic freedom, Accountability, Arvind Gupta, bullying, Ethics, Free speech, Governance, harassment, higher education administration, Jane Berdahl, John Montalbano, leadership, Sauder School of Business, transparency, UBC, UBC Board of Governors, UBC Faculty Association, UBCFA, University of British Columbia, University presidents