Abstract
Beginning with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, the federal government has been trying unsuccessfully to fix education and raise the performance of poor students. The more recent reauthorizations of ESEA, No Child Left Behind (2001) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (2015), hold teachers and administrators accountable for student performance and simply shame the underperforming schools. These continued unsuccessful efforts have ignored the warning in the Coleman Report in 1966 that education has relatively little influence on student achievement compared to factors outside of school. In this paper, we focus on the state of Nebraska’s responses to these latest federal bullsh-initiatives designed to improve the “lowest performing” schools. Data provided by the Nebraska Department of Education for 2010-2019 revealed absolutely no improvements whatsoever. It is time taxpayers should demand accountability for insidious decisions that have cost both billions of dollars and too many teachers and administrators their jobs, shamed high-poverty schools, and yet produce nothing to show for it.
Recommended Citation
Peterson, Bert; Bligh, Robert; and Robinson, Daniel H.
(2022)
"Consistent Federal Education Reform Failure: A Case Study of Nebraska from 2010-2019,"
Mid-Western Educational Researcher: Vol. 34:
Iss.
3, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/mwer/vol34/iss3/6
