Nation at Risk

Twenty-five years ago, the Nation at Risk report was released. On its anniversary, writers and pundits are busy assessing its legacy.

Not surprisingly, I’m not terribly fond of the conclusions George F. Will draws in his op ed on the subject - I don’t, for instance, consider lowering class size to be “shopworn” nor do I think multiculturalism is the reason high school students can’t correctly identify historical events. 

But he does raise one point that, though he wouldn’t be particularly fond of the conclusion I’m going to draw from it, bears further conversation among educators.

Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families and hence communities—the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can enable schools to cope with the 36.9 percent of all children and 69.9 percent of black children today born out of wedlock, which means, among many other things, a continually renewed cohort of unruly adolescent males.

Also:

[I]n 1966, the Coleman report...concluded that the qualities of the families from which children come to school matter much more than money as predictors of schools’ effectiveness. The crucial common denominator of problems of race and class—fractured families—would have to be faced.

Unlike Will, who seems to be arguing that social context makes school reform irrelevant at best, I think these quotes actually argue for a larger role for teachers in advocating for social justice.

When I wrote about this a year ago, I quoted Pedro Noguera, among others:

If we want to insure that all students have the opportunity to learn, we must insure that their basic needs are met. Students who are hungry should be fed, children who need coats in the winter should receive them and those who have been abused or neglected should have counseling and care. Expanding access to healthcare, preschool and affordable housing, and providing more generous parental leave policies should be included on the education reform agenda.

Not an easy task. But perhaps one that it’s time to focus on.

Noguera and his colleagues at the Forum for Education and Democracy marked the anniversary of Nation at Risk by releasing their own vision of a new education reform agenda in Democracy at Risk: The Need for a New Federal Policy in Education.

More coverage on the 25th anniversary of Nation at Risk in this USA Today article, this Christian Science Monitor article, and the EdWeek archive.

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