Assessment, Bureaucracy, and Consolidation : The Issues Facing Schools Today

American education has changed dramatically over the last century. The small, locally controlled school, supported by a concerned educational village fostered learning, personal accountability, patriotism and economic growth for a young nation. Today, however, American schools are typically large, consolidated, bureaucratic organizations controlled by state and/or municipal governments. The administration of these schools is hierarchical and corporate in form while its curriculum is oriented toward the needs of the business community. Assessment through standardized testing, moreover, has become the cornerstone of American education. Assessment, Bureaucracy, and Consolidation: TheIssues Facing Schools Today examines this remarkable transformation in the form and function of education and assesses the problems and possibilities for the future of schools and our nation. Additional key features of this book include: •A clear comprehensive history of the modern American school from the nineteenth century to the present and its impact on teachers, students, parents and the community at large •An Explanation of the impact of bureaucratic organization and the movement toward large schools •Critiques of past reform experiments in public education •A Placement of the contemporary standardized assessment movement in historical context •A reevaluation of the relationship between education and business •An evaluation of returning education to locally controlled schools, reconnecting educational practitioners with the educational village