Give NCLB a Better Chance to Succeed
by Lin Yang on April 2, 2008 in The Blackboard
When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, it enjoyed tremendous bi-partisan support, with 47 Democrats and 43 Republicans in the Senate voting in its favor. Now, six years later, the law and its looming renewal process have become political taboo. Read more
Why Don’t We Have National Standards?
by Lin Yang on March 10, 2008 in The Blackboard
When Bob Moses spoke at the JFK, Jr. Forum on February 21, he called on our country to implement a constitutional amendment mandating that every child should have an equal opportunity to obtain an excellent education. Bob argued that this right is essential to ensuring further progress for minority communities in the U.S., and it follows the line of struggles that have won African Americans the right to be free, the right to vote, and the right to receive equal protection under the law. When he posed the proposal “How many of you believe that every child should have a chance to obtain a high quality education” to the audience, everyone’s hand shot up. So why don’t we have constitutional amendment for equal education? Read more
So We’re Not Very Socially Mobile
by Lin Yang on February 28, 2008 in The Blackboard
The theme for this week’s Issues in Education Policy class is social mobility. Specifically, the general consensus is that America, the swash-buckling, individualism-driven, land of opportunity doesn’t provide as many “rags to riches” stories as other industrialized nations around the world. You know that feeling of reading through pages and pages of depressing statistics, to the point that your eyes start to glaze? To save you from horrendous reminders of grad school, here’s a brief summary of the findings: Read more
