This episode kicks off our deep dive into the slow dismantling of American public education — not by accident, but by design. We explore how a 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, triggered a nationwide panic that turned classrooms into testing centers, teachers into proctors, and students into data points.
We examine how policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top created a culture of compliance, narrowed the curriculum, and fueled burnout across the profession. Along the way, I share personal experiences from the front lines — including what it felt like to work under a principal who cared more about daily attendance numbers than the actual lives of her students and staff.
This episode is not just about policy. It’s about people. It’s about the joy that was stripped away from learning. And it’s about the belief we’ve lost — that teaching is a profession worth respecting, protecting, and rebuilding.
In the next episode, we’ll tackle what happened when funding cuts collided with test-driven education, turning a rigid system into one that’s now falling apart.
National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A Nation at Risk.
https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.htmlEconomic Policy Institute (2022). The teacher pay penalty has hit a new high.
https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-penalty-2022/American Statistical Association (2014). Statement on Value-Added Models.
https://www.amstat.org/asa/files/pdfs/POL-ASAVAM-Statement.pdfNational Education Association (2022). Survey: Educators say burnout is a serious problem.
https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releasesCowen Institute, Tulane University (2015). The State of Public Education in New Orleans
U.S. Department of Education (Archived). No Child Left Behind Overview.
https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.htmlBrookings Institution (2013). The Misuse of Standardized Testing in American Education
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/standardized-testing-and-the-common-core-standards/
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