Abstract

In the more than one hundred years since public education began in the United States, almost every decade has seen efforts to reform schools. From the efficiency movement of the 1920s to the Great Society programs in the 1970s and from the “Reform Era” of the 1980s to the 1990s emphasis on standards and accountability, movements and policies have come and gone. Despite intensive efforts, federal and state policies have been largely unsuccessful in improving how schools are organized, how teachers teach and what content students learn.