Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

A–111 • Reorganize pre-service and in-service professional development programs to support the develop ment of the skills necessary to bring all students up to the new standards. • Reorganize the delivery of health and social services to children and their families so as to support students and the school faculties. Appendix XVIII • Restructure the organization and management of public elementary and secondary education on the principles of modern quality management, empowering school staff, reducing intermediate layers of bureaucracy and the burden of rules and regulations from the state, the board of education and the unions and holding school staff accountable for student progress. Funds provided by this program could be used for professional development, to provide critically needed “glue” support to weld together activities consistent with the purposes of the program, and to provide student services. But funds for direct student services could be used only for services rendered before and after the regular school day, on weekends and during vacation periods. States receiving funds under this program would have to provide relief from regulation comparable to that provided by the federal government. • The established federal education programs for the disadvantaged need to be thoroughly overhauled to reflect an emphasis on results for the students rather than compliance with the regulations. A national commission on Chapter 1, the largest of these programs, chaired by David Hornbeck, has designed a radically new version of this legislation, with the active participation of many of the advocacy groups. Other groups have been similarly engaged. We think the new administration should quickly endorse the work of the national commission and introduce its proposals early next year. It is unlikely that this legislation will pass before the deadline—two years away—for the reauthoriza tion of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, but early endorsement of this new approach by the administration will send a strong signal to the Congress and will greatly affect the climate in which other parts of the act will be considered. Public Choice, Technology, Integrated Health and Human Services, Curriculum Resources, High Per formance Management, Professional Development and Research and Development • The restructuring of the schools that we envision is not likely to succeed unless the schools have a lot of information about how to do it and real assistance in getting it done. The areas in which this help is needed are suggested by the heading for this section. [Ed. Note: This is one of the most significant reports to which we’ve had access. It calls for a complete change in our form of government, education and opportunity to pursue individual life choices. At the time of the publication of this document the following people were serving on the Board of Trustees of the National Center on Education and the Economy. Many of these names will be familiar and significant as the reader relates them to proposals for change and reform. Federal Programs for the Disadvantaged • Deploy advanced technologies to support the learning of students in and out of school.