Securing the Right to Learn: Policy and Practice for Powerful Teaching and Learning

Abstract

America’s schools are among the most unequal in the industrialized world in terms of both inputs and outcomes. Inequalities in spending, class sizes, textbooks, computers, facilities, curriculum offerings, and access to qualified teachers contribute to disparate achievement by race and class, which increasingly feeds the “school-to-prison pipeline”—a function of many young people’s lack of adequate skills for joining the labor market. This creates an enormous drain on national resources, which, in turn, reduces the capacity to invest in education, social services, and employment. To reverse this situation, the nation must create a coherent system that can provide well-trained teachers in all communities so that all children can be skillfully taught and ultimately successful in a knowledge-based economy. This article describes the kind of preparation and policy system needed to achieve this goal.