文章基本信息

标题：Leveraging Change Via Competition: The Promise and Limitations of Race
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作者：Donna M. Harris, Ph.D.
期刊名称：JEP : eJournal of Education Policy
电子版ISSN：2158-9232
出版年度：2012
出版社：Northern Arizona University
摘要：As a result of Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal government has been involved with addressing public school inequities in a number of ways. However, it has not yielded the results of equal educational opportunity or outcomes. To remedy these inequities, Race to the Top uses competitive grants to spur innovation and has fostered states to adopt policies to improve both standards and assessments and the capacity of their lowest performing schools. It has also promoted teacher evaluation systems linked with student outcomes. However, Race to The Top is limited given that all states will not receive these funds and teacher evaluation may be hampered by methodological and ethical concerns. Race to the Top (RTT) is the most recent federal initiative developed by the Obama administration to improve education in the United States by using competitive grants to leverage change in state, district, and local school policies and practices. It continues the legacy of federal involvement with improving the quality among schools in the United States for all with concerns about addressing racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic disparities. RTT is preceded by other federal efforts including No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in an attempt to remedy the disparities in educational experiences with the use of a high-stakes accountability framework to improve schooling. This article's purpose is to examine the tenets of RTT and how it is positioned to create educational innovation. In addition, I discuss the limitations associated with this policy instrument (see McDonnell & Elmore, 1987). The Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 is a major federal policy effort post Brown v. Board of Education that focused on addressing inequalities in student experiences and outcomes with the allocation of fiscal resources. In order to address these educational inequalities over the last 47 years, the ESEA has expanded its scope from providing funds that allow for targeted educational assistance to underperforming, low income students to the recent focus on holding public schools accountable via NCLB for the annual yearly progress (AYP) of student sub-groups. This reflects a shift from promoting educational equity (i.e. equalizing inputs) to a focus on educational excellence (i.e. equalizing outputs) (Wells, 2009). With the policy mandate of NCLB achievement gaps are to be resolved since school districts are expected to have all students achieve 100% academic proficiency by 2014. Although states determine their own academic standards and assessments, NCLB requires that all states and their schools assess students in grades 3-8 and at least one time during high school. In order to monitor educational disparities, NCLB requires that assessment data are disaggregated by race, free and reduced lunch status, language status, and special education status with schools meeting annual yearly progress targets. In addition, NCLB uses the mandate of accountability to foster change within all public schools beyond those receiving Title I (McGuinn, 2005; Vinovskis, 2009).