The 50th Anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act:

Accountability

April 9, 2015

By Charles Barone

“The Power of Yet”

“As the son of a tenant farmer, I know that education is only valid
in its passport from poverty, the only valid passport.
As a former teacher—and I hope a future one—I have
great expectations of what this law will mean for all our young people.”

– President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Johnson City, Texas. April 11, 1965.


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Saturday marks 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) signed into law the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Although they seem new, many of the debates on education taking place today parallel those that took place five decades ago. With an eye toward Tuesday’s Senate Committee mark-up of ESEA, here are four of the most crucial.

1. Expectations for poor and minority children. Johnson and his key Congressional ally, Senator Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) (D-NY), faced the belief by some that pushing improvements in schools was fruitless because factors outside of schools pre-determined student achievement.

        For example, RFK to then-Education Commissioner Francis Keppel in a 1965 hearing:

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2. Political tensions between educators and civil rights leaders on the importance of addressing in-school factors.

 In 1965, for example:

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3. The importance of measuring student achievement. RFK was not only adamant but also prescient on the importance of assessing whether students are meeting academic benchmarks to figure out what’s working and what’s not.

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4. The need for some federal role in ensuring states and school districts meet the needs of historically disadvantaged groups of children.

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These have been the struggles of progressive education reformers for the past 50 years.  The debates we hear at Tuesday’s mark-up are likely to be eerily similar. What observers should keep in mind though is that LBJ, RFK, and civil rights leaders were on the right side of history. Look at what’s happened between 1971 and now for minority students in reading and mathematics (keeping in mind that 10 NAEP scale score points are considered roughly equivalent to one grade level of progress).

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Despite all the progress made – and to be clear we still have a long way to go – some progressives today still argue against high expectations for historically disadvantaged students. Some say that the costs of conflict on the left over education are too high and that it’s time to sweep our disagreements under the rug. Some want us to stop paying attention to where our public education system is falling short because it makes too many adults uncomfortable.

None of that is what the original authors of ESEA had in mind. None of it makes any more sense as good strategy now than it did 50 years ago.

We need to find a way to face facts, acknowledge where we’ve been, where we are, and where we want to be but haven’t quite gotten to yet. That, as our friends at Sesame Street call it, is the “Power of Yet.” Over to you, Janelle Monáe, for further explanation.

Happy Birthday ESEA!


All quotes come from: McLaughlin, Milbrey W.  (1974).  Evaluation and Reform: The Elementary Secondary Education Act of 1965, Title I. Santa Monica, CA: Rand. (see link here)