Public Education Reform

In American society, the quality of public education is a vital topic for debate. While critics allege that the politicization of public education in underachieving communities has led to ineffective policies and reforms, proponents allege that public education still acts as an entrance to greater opportunities for students of all backgrounds. These two assertions have created a dichotomy amongst educators, policymakers, politicians, and parents. Thus, a reactionary perspective of educational reform has been proposed in response to advocates of public education. Using national testing data, this paper will examine educational trends over the past forty-five years in order to determine whether or not a 'golden age' in public education existed.

This report sought to respond to the claim that public education was failing to impart students with the skills necessary for success in a competitive marketplace. Specifically, it alleged that "a rising tide of mediocrity" was threatening the future of public education (Bell 1983: 1). In order to support this claim, the report surveyed a pool of studies which indicated severe underachievement on national and international scales. For example, the report indicated that the verbal section of SAT scores had dropped "over fifty points, and the mathematics section of SAT scores had dropped "nearly forty points" from 1963 to 1980. Furthermore, the report indicated that almost forty percent of seventeen year old students were unable to properly "draw inferences from written material" (Bell 1983:21). Consequently, the commission led to thirty-eight recommendations for the future of public education. This triggered a wave of educational reforms, and thirty-eight recommendations for education among five different categories.

This snapshot of standardized testing date over time examines historical achievement gaps in public education. For example, the data explores racial gaps over time, gender gaps over time, and the performance of public schools in relation to Catholic schools. Concerning racial gaps over time, the data indicates that white, black, and Hispanic students have achieved at significantly greater rates since the 1970's (NCES 2012:18). Specifically, the data indicates that since 1971, black students' scores have increased by thirty points, and Hispanic students' scores have increased by twenty one points. Thus, on average, "the white-black score gap has narrowed twenty-seven points since 1971" (NCES 2012:19). Additionally, the gender score gap among public school students has narrowed roughly eight points since 1971. Nonetheless, female students continue to outperform male students in reading at all ages. This indicates that while both students excel according to similar rates of achievement in the contemporary era, public education still produces gendered results. In relation to Catholic schools, public schools continue to fall short of producing successful indicators of achievement. For example, in 2012, Catholic school students scored an average