Is NCLB a knee jerk reaction to the current problems in education?
I’m not sure I accept your premise about the impact of “A Nation of Risk.” I believe that we “listened” to “A Nation at Risk” more than you may think and that, in fact, there is a strong connection between it and NCLB. After “A Nation at Risk” was published in 1983, hundreds of groups were formed at the state level to respond to it. In 1984, Southern states began a multi-year effort to raise standards, require high school graduation exams and take other actions intended to improve education. In 1989, President George Bush and the nation’s governors agreed to adopt six national education goals, including Goal 3: that “all students … will demonstrate [] competency over challenging subject matter [and] learn to use their minds well…” And in 1994, President Clinton led Congress to enact these goals into federal law. In the private sector, The Business Roundtable, an organization of about 200 of the largest U.S. corporations, responded with numerous initiatives. Of greatest relevance fo
