Editing Education reform (section)

==== 1980–1989: A Nation at Risk ====

During the 1980s, some of the momentum of education reform moved from the left to the right, with the release of ''[[A Nation at Risk]]'', [[Ronald Reagan]]'s efforts to reduce or eliminate the [[United States Department of Education]]. <blockquote> "[T]he federal government and virtually all state governments, teacher training institutions, teachers' unions, major foundations, and the mass media have all pushed strenuously for higher standards, greater accountability, more "time on task," and more impressive academic results".<ref name="Miller2002">{{cite book|author=Ron Miller|title=Free Schools, Free People: Education and Democracy After the Nineteen Sixties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFdO7nX5NOsC|access-date=5 June 2013|year=2002|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8824-9|page=110}}</ref></blockquote>

Per the shift in educational motivation, families sought institutional alternatives, including "[[Charter schools in the United States|charter schools]], [[Progressive education|progressive schools]], [[Montessori education|Montessori schools]], [[Waldorf education|Waldorf schools]], [[Afrocentric education|Afrocentric schools]], religious schools - or [[Homeschooling|home school instruction]] in their communities."<ref name="Miller2002"/>

In 1984 President Reagan enacted the [[Education for Economic Security Act]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=U.S. Congress |title=PUBLIC LAW 98-377 |date=1984 |publisher=U.S. Congress |location=Washington D.C. |url=https://www.congress.gov/98/statute/STATUTE-98/STATUTE-98-Pg1267.pdf |access-date=5 June 2023}}</ref>

In 1989, the [https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/house-bill/3299 Child Development and Education Act of 1989]<ref>{{cite book |last1=U.S. Congress |title=PUBLIC LAW 101-239 |date=1989 |publisher=U.S. Congress |location=Washington D.C. |url=https://www.congress.gov/101/statute/STATUTE-103/STATUTE-103-Pg2106.pdf}}</ref> authorized funds for [[Head Start (program)|Head Start Programs]] to include child care services.

In the latter half of the decade, [[E. D. Hirsch]] put forth an influential attack on one or more versions of progressive education. Advocating an emphasis on "cultural literacy"—the facts, phrases, and texts.

See also [[Uncommon Schools]].