Should More Rigorous Academic Standards Be Established for All Public Elementary and/or ...

802 Pages·2007·18.65 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 268 595
CS 505 246
TITLE
Should More Rigorous Academic Standards Be
Established for All Public Elementary and/or
Secondary Schools in the United States?
Intercollegiate Debate Topic, 1985-1986, Pursuant to
Public Law 88-246. House of Representatives, 99th
Congress, First Session.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Congressional
INSTITUTION
Research Service.
REPORT NO
House-Doc-99-95
PUB DATE
86
NOTE
802p.; Document contains many pages of small
print.
PUB TYPE
Reports - Descriptive (141) -- Books (010)
EDRS PRICE
MF05/PC33 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Academic Achievement; *Academic Standards;
*Curriculum Development; *Debate; Educational
Assessment; Educational Change; Educational Finance;
Educational History; *Educational Improvement;
Educational Policy; *Educational Quality; *Elementary
Secondary Education; Higher Education; Persuasive
Discourse; Student Evaluation
IDENTIFIERS
*Intercollegiate Debate Topic
ABSTRACT
Designed to facilitate the research related to the
preparation and presentation of arguments for the intercollegiate
debate topic, this manual summarizes issues surrounding educational
reform and quality control in American elementary and secondary
schools. The excerpts from books, periodicals, and other sources not
always readily available to public or research libraries included in
this manual were selected to provide background information, an
overview of the principal issues, and a balance of opposing views.
The five sections of the manual focus on the following areas: (1)
background and overview of educational reform; (2) school
effectiveness and quality, testing, and general achievement; (3)
achievement and curricular problems; (4) curricular solutions; and
(5) teachers, school administration, and school finance. Also
included in the manual are a selected bibliography of materials on
the intercollegiate debate topic, a guide to information sources, and
a list of available government publications on the intercollegiate
debate topic. (MTH)
***************************************************w*******************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the bust that can be made
from the original document.
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Session / Document No 99-95
House of Representatives/99th Congress 1st
U"
47%
Should More Rigorous
Standards Be
%40 Academic
CNI
Public
Established For All
Clui
Secondary
Elementary and/or
United States?
Schools in the
Intercollegiate Debate Topic
1985-1986
Pursuant to Public Law 88-246
Research Service
Compiled by the Congressional
Library of Congress
U.S. OSPAITRISIET of 1101,41TION
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
This documat his been reproduced se
-ei from the person or alienation
originating it.
0 Minor chinas hews been made to improve
reproducdon *ADV.
Points of mew or opinions meted m this doom
men do not necenerly represent officio, NIE
position or Policy.
2
PUBLIC LAW 88-246, ARTS CONGRESS, S. 2311,
DECEMBER 30, 1963
AN ACT To provide for the preparation and
printing of compilation of materials
relating to annual national high school
and college debate topics.
It enacted by the Senate end House of
Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That the
Librarian of Congress is
authorized and directed to prepare compilations
of pertinent excerpts, biblio-
graphical references, and other appropriate materials
to (1) the
relating
subject selected annually by the National
University Extension Association
as the national high school debate topics and (2)
the subject selected annually
by tho American Speech Association
as the pectoral college debate topic.
In
prJpering such compilations the Librarian shall
include materials which In his
judgment are representative of, and give equal
emphasis tv, the opposing Points
of view on the respective topics.
Sec. 2. The compilations on the high school
debate topics shall be printed
as Senate documents and the compilations
on the college del. to topics shell be
printed se Ibuse documents, the cost of which
shall be charged to the congres-
sional allotment for printing and binding.
Additional copies of such documents
may be printed in such quantities and distributed
in sot% manner ma the Joint
Committee on Printing directs.
Approved December 30, 1963.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
vii
I.
RACKCIOUND AND OVERVIEW: EDUCATIONAL REFORM
1
A Open Letter to the American People --A Nation at Risk:
The Imperative for Educational Reform.
National
Commission on Excellence in Education, May 5, 1983
3
High School: An Agenda for Action.
Ernest L. Boyer, in
High School: A Report on Secondary Education in
America, 1984
16
Inert of the [Twentieth Century Fungi] Task Force
[on Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Policy].
In Making the Grade, 1983
35
Executive Summery: The Action Plan.
In Action for
E xcellence:
Comprehensive Plan to Improve Our
N ation's Schools.
Education Commissiou of the
States, June 1983
55
Executive Summery: An Urgent Message to Parents, Decision
Makers and All Other Americans.
In Educating Americans
for the 21st Century.
National Science Board, Commission
on Precollege Education in Mathematics, Science, and
Technology, 1983
61
The Nation Responds: An Overview.
In The Nation Responds:
Recent Efforts to Improve Education. United States
Department of Education, Nay 1984
72
Recent Initiatives Reported by States and the District
of Columbia.
In The Nation Responds: Recent Efforts
to Improve Education.
United States Department of
Education, Hey 1984
82
Education in America: Reports on Its Condition,
Recommendations for Change.
James B. Stedman,
Congressional Research Service. 1985
86
Discriminat'on and Differential Treatment: The Risk to
Children.
In Barriers to Excellence: Our Children
at Risk.
National Coalition of Advocates for
Students, January 1985
107
II.
SCHOOL ErFICTIVENESS AND QUALITY, TESTING, AND GENERAL
ACHIEVEMENT
137
Elementary /Secondary Education.
In the Condition
of Education. 1984.
National Center for Education
Statistics, 1984
119
Secondary Education: Student Flows, Coarse Participation,
and State Requirements.
In the Condition of Education,
1984.
National Center for Education Statistics, 1984
197
The 16th Annual Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes
Toward the Public Schools.
George H. Gallup, in
Phi Delta Eappan, September 1984
231
The Failure of Nigh Schools and the Progress of
Education.
David I. Cohen and Barbara Neufeld, in
Daedalus, Summer 1981
247
Sour Observations on the Reported Gap Between American
and Soviet Educational Standards.
Iris C. Rotbett, in
American Education, January-February 1983
268
American Education: How Are Na Doing?
Be
Lerner,
in Public Interest, Fall 1982
272
To Promote or Not to Promote?
Frederick J. Medway, in
Principal, January 1985
296
The Application of Competency Testing Mandates to
Handicapped Children.
Martha M. McCarthy, in Harvard
Educational Review, May 1983
300
Recent Reform Proposals for American Education.
Lawrence C. Stedman and Marshall S. Smith, in Contemporary
319
Education Review, Pall 1983
.. 339
Amin:moan
AND CURRICULA PROBLEMS
III.
Reading, Science, and Mathematics Trends: A Closer
Barbara J. Holmes, Education Commission of the
Look.
341
States, December 1982
Science and Mathematics Education In American High
Schools: Results From the High School and Beyond Study.
David Sweet, National Center for Education Statistics,
363
May 1984
Mortimer adler, in Center
The Reform of Public Schools.
384
Magazine, September-October 1983
The Potential and Real Achievement of U.S. Students
Alan C. Purves, in American
in School Reading.
406
Journal of Education, November 1984
Kenneth
Foreign Leagues* Study: One of the Basics.
431
D. Whitehead, in American Education, March 1985
The Dangerous Decline in U.S. Science Education.
F. James Rutherford, in the Chronicle of Risher
435
Education, April 1983
The MacNeil-Lehrer
Science and Meth Education.
437
Import, February 1983
A New Perspective on Math and Science Education.
445
Iris C. Bothers. in Phi Delta Kappan, June 1984
Peter S. Prescott, in
When Words Are the Enemy.
451
Newsweek, Mar. 11, 1985
Nail Postman, in the
The Rising Tide of Illiteracy.
453
Washington Post Book World, Mar. 31, 1985
455
CURRICULA SOLUTIONS
IV.
Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need
457
The Collein Board, 1983
to Know and Be Able To Do.
Committee on Science,
What High School Graduates Need.
g, and Public Policy, Panel on Secondary
Engi
School Education for the Changing Workplace, in
High Schools and the Changing Workplace: The
464
Employers' View, 1984
In Indicators of Precollege
Introduction and Summary.
Education in Science and Mathematics: A Preliminary
Committee on Indicators of Precollege
Review.
Science and Mathematics Education, Commission on
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,
474
lational Research Council, 191';
Education cnd National Survival: Confronting the Mathematics
Izaak Wirszup,
and Science Crisis in American Schools.
499
in Educational Leadership, December 1983
Jack M. Wilson and Ti. C.
Placer; Where Things Are Right.
507
Ingoldaby, in Physics Today, September 1983
Education and Technology: Predicting the Needs of the
515
Wynn De &miss, in RAD Perspectives, Fall 1982
Future.
The Reform of Science Education: A Cautionary Tale.
523
Philip W. Jackson, in Daedalus, Spring 1983
547
TEACHERS, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, AND SCHOO'. FINANCE
V.
Beyond the Commission Reports: The Cosine Crisis in
Linda Darling- Hammond, Rend Corporation,
Teaching.
549
July 1984
The Gallup Poll of Teachers' Attitudes Toward the
Alec Gallup, in Phi Delta
Public Schools.
572
Kappan, October 1984 .
The Gallup Poll of Teaches' Attitudes Toward the Public
Alec Gallup, in Phi Delta Kappan,
Schools: Part 2.
583
January 1985
(IV)
The Impact of State Policy on Entrance Into the Teaching
Profession: Final Report.
Margaret E. Goertz, Ruth
B. Ekstrom, Richard J. Coley, Educational Testing
Service, October 1984
591
Solving the Shortage of Mathematics and Science
Teachers.
floury M. Levin, Institute for Research
on Educational Finance and Governance. J
y 1985
621
Teacher Shortage in Science and Mathematics: Myths,
Realities, and vesearch.
Thomas L. 'Good, Gail M.
Hinkel, National Institute of Education. May 1983
645
Education Finance in the States: 1984.
Allen Odden,
Education Commission of the States. June 1984
702
SELECTED SIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE 1985-1986 INTERCOLLEGIATE
DEBATE TOPIC
739
A GUIDE TO IMPAUtATION SOURCES ON THE 1985-1986
INTERCOLLEGIATE DEBATE *OPIC
777
AVAILABLE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS ON THE 1985-1986
INTERCOLLEGIATE DEBATE TOPIC
801
(V)
6
Congressional Research Service
The Library of Congress
vemanmsn DC. 4'40
FOREWORD
The 1985-le86 Intercollegiate debate topic is "Resolved: that more rigorous
academic standards
should
be
all public
established
for
eleeentaiy and/or
secondary schools in. the United States, in one or more of the following areas:
language arts, mathematics, natural science.*
In compliance with Public Law SS-246, the Congressional Research Service of
the Library of Congress prepared this compilation of materials and bibliographic
references to assist collegiate debaters in researching this year's topic.
The
excerpts from book*, periodicals, and other documents were selected to provide
background !..formation, an overview of the principal issue*, and
balance of
opposing views. We also included some
is that are not readily available
in public or rxserch libraries.
Bibliographic references were also chosen to
provide
wide range of information and opinions.
In selecting it
for this
reader and bibliography, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has attempted
to sample the. wide 'spectrum of opinions reflected in current literature on
these questions.
No preference for any policy is indicated by the selection
or positioning of articles herein, nor should one infer CRS disapproval of any
policy or article not included.
The selected items have been arranged in five sections: background and
Overview of educational reform; school effectiveness and quality, testing and
general achievement; achievement and curricula problems; curricula solutions;
and teachers, school administration, and school finance.
U.S. Government documents listed in the bibliography sty be found in moat
U.S. Government depoaito.y libraries which can be identified by your local
rublic library.
The I'brary of Congress cannot dIstribut, copies of these or
other materials to the catbataza.
Information is included at the end of this volume on additional resources
seJ other publications and associations that may be usetul in expanding and
updating this compilation.
there i included
Finally,
relevant
list of
publications that
purchase
available
era
for
from the
Superintendent
of
Documents, Government Printing Office.
The documents
included this
in
compilation
were
selected by
Saundra
Shirley-Reynolds, Bibliographer in Education and Public Welfare.
The biblio-
graphy ass prepared by Ms.
Shirley-Rey. _Ids, with suggestions from James B.
Stedman and
other
of the Education and
members
Public
Welfare
Division.
William Kaye of the Review Office provided comments and general review of the
selections.
Ms. Shirley-Reynolds prepared the guide to information mourn':.
Sherry Shapiro, Senior Bibliographer, Library Services Division, coordinated
the preparation of this debate manual for publication.
Barbara Sanders secured
copyright permissions.
Let lurwas.er,
C.
Marianne Gaines, end John White
items
assembled and prepared
for publication.
Ann Ev.hetn and Barbara Hall
provided the secretarial production of the bibliography c,n1
research guide.
The Congressiona' Research Service wishes to express its appreciation to
those copyright holders that have granted permission for the reproduction of
materials.
Such permission is acknowledged in each instance.
Good luck to each debater in researching, preparing, and presenting argu-
ments on this year's topic.
Gilbert Gude
Director, Congressional Research Service
(VII)
7
I.
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: EDUCATIONAL REFORM
8
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