Bureaucrats Take Over

• Unlike many educational efforts, the standards movement had support in conservative and liberal camps and still does. Legislators turned over the development and monitoring of standards to state bureaucracies. State curricular standards ended up being sprawling lists of skills and knowledge that lack depth and intellectual rigor. The bizarre amalgam of academic trivia and age-inappropriate benchmarks have been justly satirized. To satisfy NCLB’s requirements and produce higher success rates, many states dumbed down tests and lowered proficiency standards. Long-term projects were sacrificed at the altar of drill and test preparation.

Share this: