Michal Adler
Capstone- Maalot 2015
July 12, 2015 Education reform is a commonly debated topic nowadays in the United States due to the various immediate needs of improvement in the American public school system. These ideas include a common curriculum, higher academic standards and gender equity in schools. These different ideas are discussed to give parents more choices in their child’s education. Two fundamental reform ideas that are most commonly discussed are coeducation versus single sex education. This paper will explore the research behind single sex education versus coeducation, and how Jewish values relate to this research. The idea of educational reform is not a new concept in America. In the years following World War Two, the citizens of the United States were not strangers to poverty and low-levels of education as well as gender and racial discrimination in schools. One of the main focuses of the US legislative branch was to provide federal aid to resolve these major issues. In response to these concerns, the US government decided to pass several laws to begin to equalize educational opportunities for all students no matter what their background was. (Office of Education (DHEW),1969).
In 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which he believed would allow “full educational opportunities” to all students. The ESEA offered government aid in forms of scholarships to schools to help low-income students as
Throughout the history of public education, there have been barriers to the equality of opportunity philosophy. Thomas Jefferson’s proposal and Horace Mann’s implementation of public schools excluded non-citizens like blacks, women, and Native Americans. Next, an increase in immigration and industrialization widened cultural and economic differences between students. The greatest obstacle to equal education
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) was brought into provision during Lyndon B Johnson’s first elected term as president. With his landslide victory and the support of both houses, he was able to initiate the ESEA under the Great Society Program. The goals of the ESEA was providing federal funding to elementary and secondary education and to set a precedence for a universal federal curriculum. By allowing the federal government to administer funds to each state for education, the states had to follow federal guidelines to be eligible for the benefits. What the ESEA accomplished beyond allocating monetary benefits for education to each state, was forcing schools in the south to desegregate their school districts to allow all children the same right to a quality education.
There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), brain child of President Johnson, was passed in 1965. ESEA was intended to mitigate disparities in access to quality academic services and learning outcomes endured by underprivileged and minority students by federally funding schools serving their communities. ESEA, later revised as No Child Left Behind, was to be one element in a larger reform agenda focused on urban redevelopment, vocational training and “EDUCATION AND HEALTH” (Thomas & Brady, 2005). In his 1965 State of the Union, Johnson proclaimed, “No longer will we tolerate widespread involuntary idleness, unnecessary human hardship and misery, the impoverishment of whole areas… ” Nevertheless, this intractable problem remains, as illustrated by recent National Assessment of Educational Progress findings:
The education system in America has a long history of struggle and change, as we have grown as a nation we have experienced an ever-increasing rise in diversity. This diversity has caused rigidities between groups and all stratus of society and has been a major impact in debates concerning the educational opportunities in America.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first to enact a civil rights law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), to combat the achievement gap in low-income communities. ESEA provided Federal grants to districts with substantial numbers of low-income students to offset the cost of textbooks, library books, special education centers, scholarships for low-income college students, and to improve elementary and secondary education. While ESEA remains as the policy foundation to lessen the opportunity gap, it was not sufficient and improvements were needed (“Every Student Succeeds”, n.d.).
President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as part of the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty campaign in which largely the original goal remains today. With its main purpose to improve education fairness by providing federal funds to schools aiding students from lower income homes, this act has been reauthorized seven times over the years with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 revision the most recent.
The Public Education system has evolved over the years to adjust and function properly with the constantly changing world. In its early stages, there was discrimination in the Public Education system that did not give everyone an equal opportunity. Race and economic statuses of families were two factors that played a role in the amount and quality of education children used to receive (Imoukhufede). These
The Civil Rights era of the 1950’s and 1960’s ushered in copious federal spending directed towards the desegregation of American Society. Moreover, the ultimate goal was the creation of a leveled playing field that would allow minorities opportunities to gain access and reap benefits that had not been traditionally extended to them, thereby resulting in large disparities in wealth, resource, and education between races and cultures. In a courageous attempt to amend these woes, Congress passed a series of legislation designed to achieve these ends. One of the most notable pieces of legislation passed during this era was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Created with all-deliberate intention of desegregating schools
In 1965, it was the first government initiative toward a practical solution in attempting to contain this uprising income achievement gap as they issued the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Unsurprisingly, this act gained lots of popularity among education reformers at that time as its objective was to provide equal education opportunities to all students nationwide whether they are rich or poor. Nonetheless, the ESEA was just a quick, ready solution to provide funds to schools at that time but not one that was extensively studied to ensure true equality in distributing those funds. Title I of the Act, which is still implement in the new version of the ESEA that’s now called the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, was the most important part which contained the initiative of providing funds to eligible schools and the way they would be distributed. According to Phyllis McClure, a civil rights activist who also served in the U.S. Office of Education’s Title I Task Force, this Title I in particular contained a “loophole” that allowed for poor schools to still not get their equal share of the funds (McClure). The problem lied in what was called the "comparability provision" law of Title I which allowed Title I schools, that uses a traditional budgeting system based on their average teacher salary, to show a comparable expenditure of their teachers’
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is a federal program that concentrates on equality. The program was passed in 1965 and was passed to support public education for students who come from low-income families (Guthrie, Hart, Ray, Candoli & Hack, 2008).
Even in the 21st century the United States public school system is once again becoming segregated by race. Results of research show there are several factors involved in this trend, including housing discrimination and the United States Supreme Court granting the states sovereignty to govern their own policies on school desegregation; even going so far as to say the policies employed by states to desegregate based on race were unconstitutional. This topic addresses the issues causing resegregation and the ideas set forth to alleviate the problem and insure equal education for all children, regardless of race or socio-economic status.
American education since 1930 has seen a gradual increase in the involvement of the federal government. This intervention has been marked by two major goals: 1.) increasing educational opportunity and equality, especially for groups from which these had been historically denied. 2.) Increasing the quality of education to strengthen communities, states and the nation. The most significant growth of the federal involvement in education has taken place since World War II.
Education has been an important factor of all of our lives for an exceptional amount of time, but unfortunately, America has been falling behind from other nations in their education system compared to other nations (Pahlke 444). Almost all of our public schools in our country are coeducational and only handful of them are single-sex educational schools. Single-sex education should be taken into high consideration for most students to attend because of the benefits they might gain from them. It is important to look at all possible ways to try and better our education system for the benefit of the children and teenagers attending school. The most important years of schooling that provide a solid background for all students would be
The U.S. Educational system has historically divided into two objective groups. The first objective focuses on increasing opportunity. The second objective focuses on stabilizing an unequal society. The objective of increasing opportunity has mainly emphasized on practition more than discussions of schooling. Thomas Jefferson implemented a plan in 1779, it promised the laboring class more opportunity to attend higher education. The point of the plan was to rake out the brilliant from the poor class, and add them to the prospering upper class. The goal of the plan was to divide the youth