March 29, 2024

Care to Really Understand Federal Education Policy?


In my humble opinion, Jo Boaler‘s, recent Education Week column, Where Has All the Knowledge Gone?
The Movement to Keep Americans at the Bottom of the Class in Math
, is one of the most important pieces of education journalism in some time.

Is this just a coincidence? Can President Bush really have been so badly advised as to ignore almost all of the research that could have informed the report, or was there something more deliberate at work? How acceptable is it for a government to control the forms of knowledge that are released to the public?

Dr. Boaler is a former Stanford University Mathematics Professor who clearly and succinctly documents how “science” and “research” are used as a blunt weapon by the United States Department of Education. Boaler describes how the President’s National Mathematics Advisory Panel was constrained from publishing the best advice for improving mathematics education. Such ideological interference in mathematics education is consistent with the Reading First mess at the center of No Child Left Behind.

One thought on “Care to Really Understand Federal Education Policy?

  1. Gary,
    I just finished Boaler’s book and was going to tell you about it. It’s great. I’m using “her” buddhist monk problem (p. 181) in my talk at AMTNJ on Thursday.
    -Ihor

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