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Contributors
Lance T. Izumi - Contributor
[Courtesty of Pacific Research
Institute]
Lance
Izumi is Director of Education Studies for the Pacific
Research Institute and
Senior Fellow in California Studies. He is a leading expert in
education policy and the author of several major PRI studies.
[go to Izumi index]
 Ronald
Reagan’s Education Legacy
The education President…
[Lance T. Izumi] 6/25/04
While Ronald
Reagan's foreign policy changed the face of the world, it shouldn’t
be forgotten that his leadership also dramatically changed
the face of issues
at home. Top among those
was education.
In 1983, the Reagan administration released the
groundbreaking report “A Nation at Risk.” Using a wealth of statistical
data, the report demonstrated in detail the failings of America’s
education system and the impact of those failings on the country’s
children. The report recommended greater emphasis on basic subjects
such as math and English, more rigorous and measurable standards,
higher expectations for student performance and conduct, lengthening
the school year, and improving teacher quality through, for example,
increasing standards for teacher training programs. It’s
no coincidence that the report’s recommendations form the
basis for much of today’s agenda for education reform.
Education
Week observed that “the report led to comprehensive
school reform efforts, was the impetus for the academic-standards
movement, drew attention to the importance of education policy,
and led to a focus on school accountability.” It is important
to point out that the report, even with its shocking findings
and cutting-edge recommendations, wouldn’t have had as
powerful and lasting an impact without Ronald Reagan’s
decision to use it to challenge the conventional wisdom regarding
education.
According to Dick Carpenter, professor of education
leadership at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs,
in the two
years after the release of “A Nation at Risk,” Reagan
delivered more than 50 education-related speeches. Prof. Carpenter
found, “In speech after speech, Reagan articulated his
educational beliefs and ideas, including: parental responsibility
in education; school choice, including tax credits and vouchers;
rigorous academic content focused on ‘basics’ such
as reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and government; religious
freedom in schools; high standards of conduct and discipline;
character education; and a federal responsibility in helping
the disadvantaged.”
The result of Reagan’s rhetorical onslaught,
notes Prof. Carpenter, was and continues to be stunning:
“Through his rhetoric Reagan legitimized and raised in
the public consciousness educational ideas that languished in
previous administrations. These ideas, such as school choice,
merit pay, educational excellence, or character education became
the school reform movement of the 1990s and saw prominence in
[George W.] Bush’s original education blueprint. Not only
did these ideas enjoy renewed attention and power, but they became
the focus of debate and a driving educational agenda in local,
state, and national venues. Through Reagan, the debate had indeed
changed.”
Real policy changed as well. Reagan’s constant call for
school-choice vouchers laid the groundwork for subsequent voucher
programs, including Congress’s recent approval of a voucher
program for Washington, D.C. Also, Fordham Foundation president
Chester Finn notes that Reagan changed the way educational success
is measured, from inputs such as spending amounts and numbers
of programs to results and effectiveness. Prof. Carpenter says
that Reagan’s rhetoric “acted as a clarion call and
an impetus for state and local level education leaders to re-examine
education not on the Johnson-era standards of equity and equality
but on the market-driven standards of excellence and quality.”
President Reagan didn’t just want to tear
down the wall dividing East from West, he wanted to tear down
the wall that
separated children from educational success. That wall is crumbling
and Ronald Reagan deserves a great deal of the credit. CRO
copyright
2004 Pacific Research Institute
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