Expanding the Reach of Education Reforms. Perspectives from Leaders in the Scale-Up of Educational Interventions

摘要

Fifty years ago, Brown V. Board of Education set in motion a series of legislative and judicial efforts to undo the effects of racial segregation, providing opportunities and support for children who had been denied both. Twenty years ago, the publication of A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) drew attention to the need for reform in all of America's schools to ensure the nation's ability to compete in the international economy. These two forces pressure to improve the quality of schools for all students and pressure to reduce gaps in access and performance of students- have resulted in both a demand for better approaches to teaching and learning and a supply of interventions intended to build the capacity within our schools to serve all children better. On the demand side, the nation has given education a high priority, even in the face of economic downturns and international turmoil. Individual states, some on their own and some under pressure from federal leaders, have revamped their standards, their assessment systems, and the incentives they provide to schools to improve their performance. The federal government, through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, continues to press for improvements in educational performance within all the many social and ethnic groups in American society and is holding schools accountable for achieving it.