More Education Reform Controversy Links

The Oregon Department of Education and the State Board of Education, who are committed to implementation of OBE in Oregon, have statements concerning the value and character of Outcome Based Education. While the news media have been generous in their support of OBE in the schools, it is better to go directly to the source. For information from the education officials, please refer to the documents available at their web site address.

One of the stories you often hear from people in the Department of Education, or their change agents and facilitators out in the school districts, is the one about Johnson City, New York. When they are challenged with the question: How can you honestly be an advocate OBE? There is no research saying it is an improvement, and it hasn't ever worked anywhere. "On the contrary," is the inevitable reply. "Johnson City has had OBE for years and everyone there is fully supportive of it because they have seen it work very successfully." Has it? For the answer we turned to Aldo S. Bernardo, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the State University of New York, who has researched the matter in the precise and thorough manner that one expects of a scholar. Here is his Johnson City Story.

For still more opinions the following links are recommended:

The chief peril underlying the entire concept of Outcome Based Education is the process of reading instruction commonly known as Whole Language, something that has been around for a long time under other names, but which is fundamental to the process of dumbing down America. Here is one parent's answer to the protestations of the professional educators that, "Oh, yes, we do teach phonics as part of our program, but we know how the brain works, and Whole Language is the best approach to waking up those brain processes." That it is not the best approach is convincingly demonstrated by the companion article by Charles Richardson, Co-existence of Whole Language and Phonics.

See Jon's Homeschool Resource, which is ideal for parents who want to remove their children from government schools and home school them. The page reveals a a comprehensive library of information sources of importance to parents who want to educate their children themselves. The page also contains links to other sites which provide information on home schooling and sources for products that serve home schoolers. If you are thinking of homeschooling your children, want to network with others who have made the same decision, or just want more information of any sort, this is the place to go.

For a series of wide-ranging articles provididng constructive evaluations of, and creative ideas for revamping, our failed public schools, visit the Cascade Policy Institute. You will find their ideas, from the "CIM-CAM Flim-Flam" to "Marketplace Schools" a refreshing change from the usual bureaucratic blather about fixing our schools.

Another source of interest is Mathematically Correct, an organization of high-powered scientists from whom you may learn everything you ever wanted to know about mathematics and the failure of the schools to teach it.

Also on the net, and an invaluable source for the investigator, is the home page of Steven Kossor. What you will find are thought-provoking articles by a practicing school psychologist and private practitioner who incisively looks into the failure and threat that OBE poses to our children. Jeff Lindsay offers another home page containing an extensive library of data and articles on all aspects of education. It is one of the best resources to be found on the internet. For more information, please check his home page at Public Education: Views of a Concerned Parent. Be sure to check out his lengthy list of resources for concerned parents.

Research Sources for Students. Since going on the net with this OBE page, we have received queries from students all over the country (including Alaska) and even from Europe, South Africa and Australia, seeking academically appropriate research materials for papers and theses. I have referred many to the books mentioned in the articles presented here, and also to The Constitutional Coalition, P.O. Box 37054, St. Louis MO 63141 for a several tiny (but powerful) books by Donna Hearne; and also to the granddaddy of research sources, "America 2000/Goals 2000 - Moving the Nation Educationally to a New World Order," compiled and edited by James R. Patrick and available from Citizens for Academic Excellence, P.O. Box 11164, Moline, IL 61265. The latter is a "big" book--I mean hefty as well as prestigious--with a wealth of original source material that will tickle the fancy of any serious researcher.

Available on the net, try Halcyon House , a non-profit publishing arm of Education Research Associates in Portland, OR. Rather than just describing their sales offerings, they present two of the best reasoned short essays I have ever read on our topic, one on OBE as such, the other on the phonics/whole language controversy. Then you must browse through their books, videos and audio tapes. No, we aren't shilling for them. We simply advise that their freebie essays are jewels in themselves, and their books offer gems of serious research as well as popular informatives. Also see Berit Kijos' "Brave New Schools" (Harvest House) and "Outcome Based Education" by Peg Luksik and Pamela Hobbs Offecker (Huntington House). These experts tell it like it is, with backup data to prove it.

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