Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Theatre of Competing Globally: Disguising Racial Achievement Patterns with Test-Driven Accountabilities

  • Published:
The Urban Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A discourse placing schools in the service of the economy has become ubiquitous in the United States (US), and current educational policies, including No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and movements, such as the Common Core Learning Standards, have been positioned as necessary in an account of global competitiveness. In this hegemonic script, implementing standardization and test-driven accountabilities across schools become not only the means, but also the goals of reform. This, we argue, undermines policy aims to reduce the persistent racial achievement gap. Here, we reconsider NCLB’s accountabilities within “political spectacle,” a framework we use to highlight the purposeful and public enactment of the worldwide educational-economic crisis. We demonstrate that this spectacle, when performed by politicians, city officials, school district administrators, educational support businesspersons, and the media, draws attention away from the ways in which NCLB negatively impacts poor, Black, and Latino youth who disproportionately attend “failing” public schools. Drawing upon data ethnographically collected in New York City (NYC) between June 2005 and October 2010, we reveal education officials and politicians justifying accountability in terms of global competiveness—often to reap personal benefit and political support—while minimizing the ways in which racial disparities continue even a decade after the implementation of NCLB mandates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Testimony by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, during U.S. Congress, House Committee on Education and Labor hearings, “Mayor and Superintendent Partnerships in Education: Closing the Achievement Gap,” July 17, 2008. Accessed October 12, 2010, http://edlabor.house.gov/testimony/2008-07-17-Michael.Bloomberg.pdf.

References

  • Abedi, J., & Dietel, R. (2004). Challenges in the No Child Left Behind Act for English language learners. Los Angeles, CA: National Center for Research in Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, M. W. (2006). Educating the “right” way: Markets, standards, god, and inequality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Au, W. (2007). High-stakes testing and curricular control: A qualitative metasynthesis. Educational Researcher, 36(5), 258–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Au, W. (2009). Unequal by design: High-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, L., & Brayboy, B. (2005). Race and schooling: Theories and ethnographies. Urban Review, 37(5), 361–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berliner, D. C., & Biddle, B. J. (1995). The manufactured crisis: Myths, fraud, and the attack on america’s public schools. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. B., & Clift, J. W. (2010). The unequal effect of adequate yearly progress: Evidence from school visits. American Educational Research Journal, 47(4), 774–798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burch, P. E. (2006). The new educational privatization: Educational contracting and high stakes accountability. Teachers College Record, 108, 2582–2610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burch, P. E. (2009). Hidden markets: The new education privatization. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darling-Hammond, L. (2007). Race, inequality and educational accountability: The irony of “No Child Left Behind”. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 10(3), 245–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, M. (1988). Constructing the political spectacle. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, B., Gesicki, K., Kang, E., & Wright, J. (2006). Is the No Child Left Behind Act working? The reliability of how states track achievement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Berkeley, Policy Analysis for California Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • García, O. (2011). Educating New York’s bilingual children: Constructing a future from the past. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(2), 133–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gay, G. (2007). The rhetoric and reality of NCLB. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 10(3), 279–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillborn, D. (2005). Education policy as an act of white supremacy: Whiteness, critical race theory and education reform. Journal of Education Policy, 20(4), 485–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The presentations of self in everyday life. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday Anchor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorur (n.d.) Putting assemblage thinking to work. Unpublished manuscript.

  • Green, E. (2008). ‘Achievement gap’ in city schools is scrutinized: slight gains in English are reported. New York Sun, August 5, 2008.

  • Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J., & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(1), 59–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollingworth, L. (2009). Unintended educational and social consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act. The Journal of Gender Race and Justice, 12(2), 311–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hursh, D. (2007). Assessing No Child Left Behind and the rise of neoliberal education policies. American Educational Research Journal, 44(3), 493–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, J. L., & Pallas, A. M. (2009). The racial achievement gap. In A. Kjellberg & L. Haimson (Eds.), NYC schools under Bloomberg and Klein: What parents, teachers, and policymakers need to know (pp. 31–39). New York: Lulu.

  • Karp, S. (2006). What’s next for NCLB. Bandaids or bulldozers? Rethinking Schools, 20(3), 10–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karp, S. (2007/2008). NCLB stalled, but still armed and dangerous. Rethinking Schools. http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/22_02/nclb222.shtml.

  • Koertz, D. M. (2008). The pending reauthorization of NCLB: An opportunity to rethink the basic strategy. In G. L. Sunderman (Ed.), Holding NCLB accountable: Achieving accountability, equity, and school reform (pp. 9–26). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolodner, M. (2009). City students are passing standardized tests just by guessing. Daily News, August 11, 2009. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/12/2009-08-12-standardized-tests.

  • Koyama, J. P. (2010). Making failure pay: For-profit tutoring, high-stakes testing, and public schools. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Koyama, J. P. (2011). Generating, comparing, manipulating, categorizing, reporting, and sometimes fabricating data to comply with No Child Left Behind mandates. Journal of Education Policy, 26(5), 701–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koyama, J. P., & Bartlett, L. (2011). Bilingual education policy as political spectacle: Educating Latino immigrant youth in New York City. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(2), 171–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koyama, J. P., & Menken, (n.d.). Reassembling emergent bilinguals. Unpublished manuscript.

  • Lapayese, Y. V. (2007). Understanding and undermining the racio-economic agenda of No Child Left Behind: Using critical race methodology to investigate the labor of bilingual teachers. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 10(3), 309–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. (2008). Is test-driven external accountability effective? Synthesizing the evidence from cross-state causal-comparative and correlational studies. Review of Educational Research, 78(3), 608–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonardo, Z. (2007). The war on schools: NCLB, nation creation and the educational construction of whiteness. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 10(3), 261–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linn, R. L. (2003). Accountability: Responsibility and reasonable expectations. Educational Researcher, 32(7), 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linn, R. L. (2008). Toward a more effective definition of adequate yearly progress. In G. L. Sunderman (Ed.), Holding NCLB accountable: Achieving accountability, equity, and school reform (pp. 27–42). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipman, P. (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. New York: Routledge Falmer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Loder, T. L. (2006). Review: Why we can’t leave public schools behind: The inseparable legacy of public education and American democracy. Educational Researcher, 35(5), 30–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, L. M. (2000). Contradictions of school reform: Educational costs of standardized testing. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medina, J. (2010). Standards raised, more students fail tests. The New York Times, July 28, 2010.

  • Meier, D., & Wood, G. (Eds.). (2004). Many children left behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act is damaging our children and our schools. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menken, K. (2008). English learners left behind: Standardized testing as language policy. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menken, K. (2010). No Child Left Behind and English language learners: The challenges and consequences of high-stakes testing. Theory into Practice, 49, 121–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mosen-Lowe, L. A. J., Vidovich, L., & Chapman, A. (2009). Students “at-risk” policy: Competing social and economic discourses. Journal of Education Policy, 24(4), 461–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Governors Association and Chief State School Officiers (2010). Common Core State Standards Initiative. Preparing America’s Students for College and Career. Retrieved December 1, 2011 from: http://maschoolibraries.org/dmdocuments/10FORUM7commoncore.doc.

  • New York State Education Department (2011). Raising the achievement of English language learners. Memorandum from State Commissioner King to the P-12 Education Committee. Albany, NY. NYSED. Retrieved August 4, 2011 from http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2010Meetings/November2010/1110p12d3.pdf.

  • Ornstein, A. C., & Levine, D. U. (2006). Foundations of Education (9th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Otterman, S. (2011). Under Bloomberg, a sharp rise in accusations of cheating by educators. The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/nyregion/city-reports-increases-in-accusations.html.

  • Otterman, S., & Gebeloff, R. (2010). Triumph fades on racial gap in city schools. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/nyregion/16gap.html?pagewanted=all.

  • Ravitch, D. (2009). Toughen the tests. New York Post, 14 August 2009. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_EF91F0Q4g70eT5y9CCXV1K.

  • Reyes, L. (2006). The Aspira consent decree: A thirtieth-anniversary retrospective of bilingual education in New York City. Harvard Educational Review, 76(3), 369–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein, R., & Jacobsen, R. (2006). The goals of education. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(4), 264–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senechal, D. (2010). The throned test. Gotham Schools. http://gothamschools.org/2010/01/15/the-throned-test/.

  • Smith, M. L., Miller-Kahn, L., Heinecke, W., & Jarvis, P. F. (2004). Political spectacle and the fate of American schools. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, S. (2010). Can New York clean up the testing mess? City Journal, Spring 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2010 from http://www.city-journal.org/printable.php?id=6090.

  • Sunderman, G. L. (Ed.). (2008). Holding NCLB accountable: Achieving accountability, equity, and school reform. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunderman, G. L., Tracey, C. A., Kim, J., & Orfield, G. (2004). Listening to teachers: Classroom realities and No Child Left Behind. Cambridge, MA: The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valenzuela, A. (Ed.). (2005). Leaving children behind: How “Texas style” accountability fails Latino youth. New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, W. E. (2005). The political spectacle of Arizona’s proposition 203. Educational Policy, 19(5), 662–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zraick, K. (2010). As parents protest, chancellor and panel leave. The New York Times, August 16, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17test.html. Retrieved October 1, 2010.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State University of New York at Buffalo, 466 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA

    Jill P. Koyama & Candace Cofield

Authors
  1. Jill P. Koyama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Candace Cofield
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jill P. Koyama.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Koyama, J.P., Cofield, C. The Theatre of Competing Globally: Disguising Racial Achievement Patterns with Test-Driven Accountabilities. Urban Rev 45, 273–289 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0229-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0229-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation