Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

378 I am pleased to invite you to participate in the 1997–1998 Blue Ribbon Schools Program, for secondary and middle schools, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and admin istered by the Maine Department of Education. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program identifies and gives national recognition to a diverse group of public and private schools that are unusually effective in meeting local, state, and national goals in educating all of their students [emphasis added]. The program seeks to promote school improvement nationwide through the collaborative self-evaluation process required of local school communities that participate. In addition, recognized schools serve as models for other schools and communities seeking to provide high quality education for all their students. This program allows us to demonstrate that today’s schools can achieve excellence and to spotlight examples of what break-the-mold programs and practices might look like. Criteria for selection as a national school of excellence include: • Student focus and support • Challenging standards and curriculum • Teaching and active learning • Learning-centered culture and organization • Professional communities • Leadership and organizational vitality • School, family and community partnerships • Indicators of success The quality of each school is judged in the context of how successfully it is meeting its own goals and how well its programs are tailored to local needs. Nevertheless, for a school to be judged deserving of national recognition, it must show significant progress in meeting state and national goals, and must have attained a standard of overall excellence that is worthy of respect and emulation by schools elsewhere of similar size characteristics. T HE M AY 1997 ISSUE OF T HE E FFECTIVE S CHOOL R EPORT CARRIED AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “The Future of Hong Kong Is Linked to Education.” Excerpts follow: The information to be presented will come from a major report recently issued by the Education Commission established by the Central Government of Hong Kong in 1983. The major reference will be Education Commission Report No. 7, Quality School Education , is sued in November, 1996. As one reads each [article] in the series of articles, the obvious and continuous ref erence to the effective schools movement becomes more than apparent. It serves us well to understand that just as the effective schools correlates were developed within our realm of the world, so it is these same correlates have been adopted throughout the world to improve the quality and design of education. A blue ribbon commission was formed in April, 1996 to make recommendations on the development and establishment of quality school education. Three broad principles served as the bases for the work of the committee. They included the following: [Ed. Note: Don’t the preceding two paragraphs represent an oxymoron?]

• Ways to relate school funding to performance 54 • Roles of key players in the school system and