Abstract
AB 900 had a strange mix of goals—those from the prison system and from the educational establishment. Central though is the dream of “evidence-based research” that dominated discussions in public administration in the 2000s.
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Notes
- 1.
This is actually a quote from my stepfather, Charles C. Rich, who worked with the Soil Conservation Service in the early years of the Dust Bowl as a civil engineer. They were tasked with teaching farmers how to improve soil conservation in plowing techniques. —Bill Rich
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Scholars provided a level of critique that focused on the core of the ideals that undergird both NCLB and the entire effective and improving schools movement. These scholars also relied on evidence. Notably, Rothstein (2003) argued that pouring ever more national resources into education might not be the most productive pathway to close the gap. He points out that if we want to preserve the current gap in social class differences, then we must also accept the gap between the achievement of children from middle and lower classes (p. 149). Highlighting the ambitious nature of the Educational Justice goal, Rothstein does not assert it is impossible to achieve. He merely states that it will be much more expensive than anyone wants to believe and that it cannot be the work of the schools alone (p. 149). The central problem is that students need to have families with stable employment, medical care including dental and vision, stable housing, and a crime free, productive social environment in order to thrive.
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Dick, A.j., Rich, W., Waters, T. (2016). Prison Logic Meets Educational Research Logic: The Undiscussables of Evidence-Based Decision-Making. In: Prison Vocational Education and Policy in the United States. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56469-6_3
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