EXPORTING THE BUSH REVOLUTION:

Nelson takes a leaf out of Bush's education reform plan. (Andrew Leigh, July 09, 2004, Online Opinion)

A suite of school reforms released by a conservative government have prompted substantial debate among educators and parents. The mantra of the package is testing, accountability and choice.

Teacher unions are critical, while the Left seems to be split on whether to bury or praise the reforms.

The story of federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson's school reform package over the past six months? Yes, but also the tale of another controversial education reform package: President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation of 2002.

The two reforms are so uncannily similar that the Nelson proposals might be better described as NCLB II. [...]

Research by Harvard University's Caroline Hoxby has demonstrated clear benefits from greater accountability: those US states that gave parents detailed information about the performance of their schools experienced larger test score gains than those states that did not.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of both countries' plans is their emphasis on choice.

NCLB requires that students in underperforming schools be given free tutoring and assistance in transferring to another school in their neighbourhood.

Likewise, under the Nelson proposals, struggling students would be provided with a $700 voucher to spend on private tutoring (oddly, the voucher will not be means-tested).

Moreover, the Howard government's reforms to the private-school funding formula over recent years appear to have been aimed at making the system as close to a de facto school voucher system as possible.

In the US, NCLB was co-sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy, an icon of the left-wing of the Democratic Party. And while the package has come under fire from some Democrats (such as Governor Howard Dean), the party is aware that it needs to tread carefully.

NCLB commands significant support among inner-city African-Americans, who have long been frustrated at the state of their children's schools. In a curious parallel, Nelson claims that Aboriginal parents have been among the strongest supporters of his proposed reforms.

President Bush was able to sneak the voucher provisions past the over-confident Ted Kennedy--helped greatly by the moronic braying of fellow conservatives who didn't understand them either--conservatives in other countries won't have the same advantage of surprise.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 12, 2004 9:00 AM