An Analysis of the Impact of Education Reform From "A Nation at Risk" to "No Child Left Behind" on Science Education Posters
Presiding: T Hsu, University of South Dakota; K C Tien, University of Florida
ED13A-01 1330h
Reforming Educational Reform: A Democratic Perspective
This essay examines the status of educational reform in the United States as represented by the current Bush administration's program titled "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB). Employing the techniques of critical theory and logical analysis, contemporary reform efforts are compared with other, more progressive, educational reform movements in an effort to gain perspective and conceptual "traction" as it were, in differentiating such movements. Criteria are established for the assessment and evaluation of reform movements. These are employed in judging the efficacy of NCLB's aim, content, and methods, as well as the results of its program following four years of implementation. The merits of the centrality of standardized testing, pre-ordained curricular content, and exclusively didactic teaching methodologies are criticized, along with the extra-school societal forces which ordain these and determine their prominence in the NCLB program. The essentialism adopted by NCLB is, moreover, evaluated in the light of pragmatic, phenomenological, and postmodern educational theory. Arguing that the school is always and inevitably an instrument of societal forces, interests, and groups, it is contended that these not only be acknowledged, but that avenues be formalized for a thorough going and continuous educational "conversation," to borrow Rorty's term, for an amicable resolution of the issues of education's aim(s), content, and methods.
ED13A-02 1330h
Education Reform as it Relates to Science Education
Four decades of educational reform efforts from the nineteen sixties have not significantly improved our schools. It is believed that in the equation of educational reform, leadership and power in educational reform have mitigated against educational reform through the misapplicaiton of examination and accountability. A major subset of the field on public administration is accountability. Accountability is widely used in government although the concept is loosely defined. Most often it is used to express public frustration, to call for control, and to transmit a range of political agendas. Any accountability framework originates from the American model of shared powers between independent governmental bodies. It allows for institutions to depend on and accommodate other institutions. Accountability assumes that individuals or agencies may hold accountable for their performance. This assumes that there is a unidirectional flow of power and influence between a controlling partner and a controlled partner. This assumption is false. Individual administrators are exposed to the authority and persuasion within a democratic framework. Educators are also confronted with control mechanisms that are rooted in the organizational and professional standards and disciplinary standards regardless of whether any democratic controls are evoked. Accountability relationships have the potential to become quite complicated. Performance evaluation is significant to every accountability relationship. In the public sector, the citizens hold government accountable and the idea of performance evaluation is relative at best, however, in education the use of examination for accountability allows for the misapplication of the exam and affects education reform in negative ways.
ED13A-03 1330h
Selected Science Educational Outcomes as a Function of South Dakota Educational Reform Policies 1995-2004
This research investigates selected South Dakota science educational outcomes as a function of selected educational reform policies. In the state of South Dakota, echoing divergent reform initiatives from "A Nation at Risk" to "No Child Left Behind," new guidelines and requirements have been instituted. Yet, very little effort has been made to assess the progress of these educational changes. In this study, selected educational outcomes-SAT8/9/10 scores-as a function of selected South Dakota educational reform policies were examined. School districts, ranked in the top and bottom five percent of socioeconomic status (SES) in the state, were selected for analysis. Comparison on student's science educational outcomes was also be made between the two major ethnic populations-Caucasians and Native Americans. All research questions were stated in the null form for hypothesis for statistical testing. Critical t was the statistic technique used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that the selected reform policies in South Dakota appeared to assist students from the higher socioeconomic backgrounds to perform better than pupils from the lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The academic performance for the ethnic and social class minorities remained unchanged within the study timeline for reform. Examined from the prism of Michael Apple's critical theory, the selected South Dakota reform policies have paid little attention to the issues of social equality. Continuing and collective efforts to promote equitable reform policies for enhancing the learning experience of all children in South Dakota seem necessary.