How Recent Education Reforms Undermine Local School Governance and Democratic Education

Posted by on November 05, 2012

Fundamentally anti-democratic

A new report from the National Education Policy Center concludes that the concept of local control has all but disappeared from discussions of education policy. The authors define local control as “the power of communities, made up of individuals bound together by common geography, resources, problems, and interests, to collectively determine the policies that govern their lives.” In education, this has typically been elected school boards and their constituents. However, NCLB and subsequent federal policy has forced a surrender of local control, with localities accountable to state and federal officials. Local discretion is allowed for compliance, but constraints because of mandates are enormous. In this way, the authors find NCLB and its progeny, including policies advanced by the Obama administration, are fundamentally anti-democratic. The Race to the Top in particular promises federal funds for expanded testing, use of student outcomes in teacher evaluations, and expansion of charter schools. To remedy this anti-democratic trend, the authors recommend moving away from threats to withhold funding, supplanting these with a participatory model that offers support and incentives for school employees, parents, and community members to collaborate on resolving educational problems. States and local communities should adopt curriculum standards “that include a conscious and substantive focus on developing the deliberative skill required of democratic citizenship.” The privatization of public education resources must also be curtailed.

Read more: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/democracy-left-behind