15th Bracey Report Considers Public Education

Observing developments in public education through a year dominated by testing controversy, Gerald Bracey's “15th Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education,” appears in the October 2005 issue of Phi Delta Kappan with its characteristic measure of sarcasm and barbs. The report cites anecdotes about testing-related pressure that drives school administrators and teachers to outrageous lengths to get students to perform well. Bracey dismisses the much-published alarm over American standing in tests of global competitiveness, suggesting that the U.S.'s performance on PISA and TIMSS was less than ideal, but not worthy of mass hysteria. Bracey focuses on controversy over charter schools: their lack of significantly higher achievement and the political Right's obstruction of the data.

The report also examines, and is extremely critical of, several aspects of NCLB. Bracey finds an absence of financial accountability, particularly in regulating supplemental educational services providers. This indicates to Bracey that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is more interested in encouraging the market than in encouraging children's education. In addition to exacting costs from the states to implement, NCLB also seems to result in large profits for test publishers and lobbyists, Bracey claims. The theme of cronyism and conflicts-of-interest continues through Bracey's investigation into the Reading First program. It appears that ED favors a few specific reading programs, the report says, often associated with those with political connections, and will only fund applications that list programs it supports. Furthermore, in struggling to cope with the 100% proficiency goal of NCLB, Secretary Spellings is granting “flexibility,” or perhaps “loopholes,” in a haphazard, secretive fashion, according to Bracey.

Bracey also bestows “Golden Apple” awards on journalists, researchers, and writers who cut through confusing jargon to point out insights into the state of education. Among other things, the recipients' work has clarified the way schools manipulate standardized testing scores, software companies pressure poor school districts to purchase their products, and standardized tests are not necessarily correlated with achievement. The Bracey Report prods the public to think critically about education reporting and legislation in a time of troubling decisions by those in authority.

Prepared by Katherine Lu, October 11, 2005