ESEA Past, Present, Future?

3 Replies to “ESEA Past, Present, Future?”

1. Let’s hope the states seize the newly arising opportunities to improve their systems for supporting local districts in all the matters bullet-pointed on Slide 13, including most importantly providing better teacher preparation, fairer opportunities to learn, and more efficient funding of a diverse selection of schools. They may find taxpayers more willing to increase school funding once the federal role in in school testing is minimized (to zero, I hope). The long term trend towards state reduction in the funding of schools, while most directly tied to the Great Recession, is also likely tied to disputes about immigration, as American taxpayers (no surprise here) are, like parents around the world, more willing to fund schools for their own children than for children they perceive as foreign and according to federal policies they don’t agree with: forging agreement on such issues is easier at the state level (and easier still locally), and we may find ourselves with a more coherent, unified country when we stop trying to dictate too many details via Washington, D.C. educrats eager to maximize their impact on the country in the limited time of a single administration.

2. From your pdf:
   Racial gaps in NAEP scale scores have narrowed since the late 1990s in nearly every grade/subject

   Here are two charts on reading and math NAEP scores, by race, since 1975 and 1978, respectfully:
   Reading:
   https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/zinshteyn-feature-naep-2.png?w=1024
   Math
   https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/zinshteyn-feature-naep-1.png?w=1024

3. BTW, Mr. Rotherham, you could update your Mac to Mavericks (10.9) or Yosemite (10.10).