With so much in doubt about “school reform” these days, I think it’s always important to trace our steps and remember how we got to where we are.
Original sources help, here’s a good one.
What’s it about?
This video from 1968 features Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Thomas Pettigrew in a discussion about the findings of the monumental study “Equality of Educational Opportunity,” which was commissioned by the U.S. government as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Led by Sociologist James S. Coleman, the research was better known as The Coleman Report.
Why is it important?
The Coleman report was the result of one of the most comprehensive efforts to use big data to understand student achievement outcomes across lines of race, class, and geography.
The resulting report challenged common held beliefs about issues of school quality (as defined at the time by the inputs into schools like financial resources), family structure, and peer effects. And, the report changed how researchers and policymakers view gaps in student achievement to the present day.
Here’s what Stanford economist and researcher Eric Hanushek said about the importance of Coleman’s work:
The greater significance of the Coleman Report—what makes it a foundational document for education policy research—lies not in any of these interpretations or conclusions, however. More importantly, it fundamentally altered the lens through which analysts, policymakers, and the public at large view and assess schools. Before Coleman, a good school was defined by its “inputs”—per-pupil expenditure, school size, comprehensiveness of the curriculum, volumes per student in the library, science lab facilities, use of tracking, and similar indicators of the resources allocated for the students’ education. After Coleman, the measures of a good school shifted to its “outputs” or “outcomes”—the amount its students know, the gains in learning they experience each year, the years of further education graduates pursue, and their long-term employment and earnings opportunities.
More background information:
Coleman Report Set the Standard for Studying Public Education - Johns Hopkins Magazine.
“50 years ago, one report introduced Americans to the black-white achievement gap. Here’s what we’ve learned since.” - Chalkbeat
The Coleman Report in Encyclopedia.com.
James S. Coleman (1926-1995) “Career, Contributions and Controversies, Redefining American Education, Contribution to Education”
Revisiting the Coleman Report