American Education Policy

What Works

Link to Education data

Chapter 9 key terms

Expanding the federal role race\religion Unequal funding –states

serano v priest; San Antonio v Rodriquez Equality outside the US Merit pay, Bilingual ed School vouchers, pro and con Charter schools | NCLB

The Coleman Report

James S. Coleman, et. al., “Equality of Educational Opportunity”, 1966

surveyed 600,000 students, 60,000 teachers, 4,000 schools

study required by 1964 Civil Rights Act, purpose: to measure the lack of equal

educational opportunity in the U. S.

Findings:

schools serving black pupils not physically inferior to schools serving white pupils.

money spent, class size, laboratories,guidance counseling, teacher salaries,teacher qualification had no effecton academic achievement.

Findings..............

Students with parents with high socio-economic status (SES) had higher scholastic achievement.

Students who went to school with students whose parents had high SEShad higher scholastic achievement.

Thomas F. Pettigrew

reanalyzed Coleman’s data: Black students attending mostly white

schools averaged two grade levels higher achievement than black pupils in segregated schools.

White students’ in integrated schoolsno worse than white students in segregated schools.

Policy Implications:

Stop worrying about money? Family background: compensate with:

HEAD START. Peer Group Influences:

SCHOOL BUSING

David Armour:

“The Evidence on Busing,” 1972 study of the effects of a Boston School

Busing program

Findings:

Black students bused to white schools did not improve their performance relative to those who were not bused.

Bused students were more likely to go on to better colleges

other studies generally support these findings.

Coleman Report II

“Trends in School Desegregation” Private schools more integrated than

public schools (sort of) School Busing causes “White Flight” (not a very good study)

What about HEAD START?

1968 Ohio-Westinghouse Study No long-term cognitive gains for Head

Start pupils compared to similar non-Head Start pupils.

subsequent studies equally divided.

Perry Pre-School Program(controlled experiment)

66 students in long-term high quality program. no long-term improvement in cognitive scores. BUT..

more likely to be employed, go to college 20% fewer drop outs, less crime fewer special education assignments

Other studies:

Compensatory education program show no effect

Worker training programs show no effect. Whole Language learning (vs. phonics) Bilingual Education

So, What Does Work?

Coleman Report III

“High School Achievement,” 1982 Compares students in public high

schools with students in private (Catholic) high schools.

Measures changes in Reading, Science and Math during high school.

Comparison based on students with similar family SES

Findings

Private school students do better BECAUSE:

more academic course workmore homeworkbetter attendancestricter discipline

Public Schools can do the same thing

Other studies:

Project STAR (1990) – small class size in early grades has long term positive effect. (controlled experiment)

Vouchers: Harvard study (2000) finds 9% gain for black students after two years on school vouchers (experiment in New York, Washington and Dayton).

Other Possibilities

Single-Sex Education Longer School Days \ School Year Standardized Testing Ending Social Promotion Merit Pay Home Schooling Parenting skills

Liberal Programs Bilingual Education Affirmative Action Multicultural

Education School busing Whole language

learning Teacher salaries Finance equity

Social promotion Self esteem Student rights Critical thinking

(sort of) New math Sex education

Conservative programs

Higher standards Local control School Vouchers School Prayer Discipline Home schooling Higher teacher

standards

Phonics Back to basics Merit pay for

teachers Old math Abstinence

education Standardized test Local standards

Neither Liberal nor Conservative

Longer school day Longer school year Same sex schools (con?) Smaller class size (lib?) Smaller schools School uniforms (con?)