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With a distinguished career in educational research spanning four decades, Professor Patricia Albjerg Graham brings a wide range of experience to bear upon her contribution to the new book, A Nation Reformed? American Education 20 Years after "A Nation at Risk" (Harvard Education Press, 2003). To the debate on raising levels of achievement for all American schoolchildren, Graham lends her voice in this interview.
Q: Who are some of the individuals, groups, and institutions that are involved in current efforts to improve the levels of academic achievement of all children? How can these different forces contribute to efforts to better American schooling? A: Primary forces involved in improving schooling at the moment are many families; educators themselves; political figures; and some business leaders. Motivations for their involvement vary, as do their concerns with ALL children. Many are interested in SOME children, particularly their own children, as all should be, but also some are interested in children whose academic achievement appears limited. Since the motivations differ, it has not been easy to build a unified coalition around genuine issues of increasing academic achievement since simplistic solutions, such as requiring passing grades on exit examinations, do not inevitably encourage students with low levels of academic skills to try harder, learn more, and hence succeed.
Neither do families or educators always know how to transform an adolescent interested in the short-term satisfactions of videos, consumer products, and intense friendships into one committed to long-term gratifications, i.e., studying hard to master academic material in order to have a more fulfilling and prosperous future. On the other hand, the public attention that has focused on academic achievement for all is an extraordinarily healthy development for the society as it seeks to find ways to help all young people achieve this goal. Fundamentally, what is lacking is a set of good ideas, not for policy, but rather for practices, that will make such achievement more widespread. Q: Do you believe it is possible for schools to offer all of their students the chance for high academic achievement without shortchanging them from a cultural and/or social perspective? A: High academic achievement should and must include broad cultural and social perspectives. Q: What can be learned from A Nation Reformed? American Education 20 Years after "A Nation at Risk"? Who is in a position to benefit from reading this book? A: Anyone concerned with America and with our youth will benefit from reading this book, which tells us that greater academic achievement is worthy, needs to be achieved, probably will be accomplished, but that it will take longer to do so than anyone—particularly policymakers—wants. For More Information
HGSE News, Harvard Graduate School of Education
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