Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Déjà Vu

  • By Deb Moore
  • 02/01/11
As I sit watching the news I hear about international competition, our students falling behind, the need to upgrade our math and science programs, school consolidations and workforce development. Call it déjà vu (or maybe old age), but I remember hearing the same things before.

It was 1957, and the talk was about the Soviet Union, Sputnik, the space race and how American students were falling behind in math and science. Our sense of superiority was being challenged and our strategy was to emphasize math and science, and to expand vocational programs in schools. District’s wrestled with this challenge and came up with a solution, school consolidation. In 1950, there were 83,718 regular public school districts in the United States. In 1960, the number was reduced to just over 40,000, and by 2010, there were less than 14,000 public school districts left. While schools were consolidating, enrollment was doubling — from 25 million students in 1950 to 50 million public school students in 2010.

Why consolidate? The perceived benefits were an expanded curriculum and specialized courses focusing on math and science, efficiency (borrowed from the private sector) and a need to demonstrate a commitment to science, progress and modernization. Somewhere between the ‘50s and the 2000’s we did a 180. The push was for smaller schools and a white-collar workforce. We decided that bigger is not always better, that cost effectiveness to the taxpayers should be measured by graduate, not by student, and that only five- to12-percent of students in large schools take advantage of the “extras” a larger school can provide.

Then, on the news tonight… science, math, technology, engineering, workforce development and school consolidations. Are we sure this time, or did we just forget?

Featured

  • Wisconsin District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The School District of La Crosse in La Crosse, Wis., recently broke ground on a new elementary school that will consolidate the students and staff of two existing schools, according to local news. Funding for the school comes from a $53-million referendum approved in 2024.

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.