Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

Appendix IX

Excerpts from A Performance Accountability System

A Performance Accountability System for School Administrators by T.H. Bell (Parker Publish ing Co.: New York, 1974). T.H. Bell served as Secretary of Education during President Ronald Reagan’s first term in office, 1981–1985, and also served as Commissioner of Education in the U.S. Office of Education during the Ford Administration. Excerpts from the book follow: The Need for a Management System Under the pressure of the free-enterprise system and the unremitting demand that large corpora tions earn profits and pay dividends to stockholders, management efficiency through orienta tion to results has led to development of management systems such as the one described in this book. Most of the successful corporations in the United States now use annually adopted objectives as a means of focusing the energies and efforts of managers on the attainment of goals that are widely known and broadly accepted. Although the problems of educational management are obviously quite different from those of the private sector, there is much to be learned from industry’s systems approach in gaining more efficiency in educational man agement. The outcomes are quite similar. (p. 21) Why Needs Assessments? As a people, Americans have turned from a preoccupation with production and plenty to a concern for the quality of human life in this nation. We have moved beyond the point where production of the necessities for existence is a concern. We want a rich and meaningful life and we want equality of opportunity for all citizens. Drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, lack of respect for law and order, coping with envi ronmental damage are all problems with which education must be concerned in this new era of social awareness and public concern for the success and happiness of all. These enormous demands call for systematic attention to the performance outcomes of the schools and col leges of the nation. Since we have so many problems and since our resources are limited, it is essential that we look at the performance of our educational institutions and establish a hierarchy of priorities…. We should seek to solve the problems that are causing the greatest amount of difficulty and unrest across the nation. We should seek to solve the problems whose solutions will both stimulate the economy and free the public from the burden of supporting

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