Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

442

and families are faring in their communities and how well agencies and child-serving institutions are meeting their mandates? ... • Are outcomes measurable? Do they specify what degree of change is expected to occur in the lives of children and families during what period of time? • Is shared accountability a part of outcomes that reflect education, human service, and community goals and objectives?

Has the collaborative devised a financing strategy to ensure long-term funding?

Has the collaborative gained legitimacy in the community as a key vehicle for addressing and resolving community issues regarding children and families? • Are the collaborative’s positions on community issues supported by commitments from public and private service providers, the business community, and the church- and neighborhood-based organizations whose members are often most directly af fected by collaborative decisionmaking? The above activities are advocated and coordinated through a center which was established with taxpayers’ money and is described in the following explanation of its activities: National Center for Services Integration The National Center for Services Integration (NCSI) was established in late 1991 with funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and private foundations to improve life outcomes for children and families through the creative integration of education, health and human services. The center itself is a collaboration of six organizations: Mathtech, Inc.; the Child and Family Policy Center; National Center for Children in Poverty; National Governors’ Association, Policy Studies Associates; and the Yale Bush Center. It also receives guidance from distinguished advisors knowledgeable about the issues and institutions con cerned with service integration. The primary purpose of NCSI is to stimulate, guide, and actively support service inte gration efforts throughout the entire country. To accomplish its mission, NCSI has undertaken a variety of activities through its Information Clearinghouse on Service Integration and a Technical Assistance Network. The Clearinghouse, which is operated by the National Center on Children in Poverty at Columbia University, collects and disseminates information and materials on service integration issues and related topics. They have developed a computer directory of service integration programs, a separate directory of organizations, and an extensive research library collection that can provide information and support to community-based programs. Individu als, organizations, and localities can access any of the Clearinghouse services.… The Technical Assistance Network, which is operated by Charles Bruner of the Child and Family Policy Center [Kids Count] and Mathtech [government contractor for the evaluation of sex education programs], brings together leading service integration planners, practitioners, administrators, and experts to exchange ideas and information, to develop written resource materials for communities and practitioners and to convene working groups composed of persons in the forefront of particular issues to develop strategies for successfully resolving some of the challenges facing communities and governmental entities involved in service integration efforts. [Ed. Note: If the reader has any questions about why school-based clinics, school-to-work, community education programs, year-round schools, one-stop training centers, and all of the other “locally conceived” programs have come into their communities with such force and