AMERYKAŃSKIE REFORMY EDUKACYJNE I DYSKUSJE NA TEMAT ICH SKUTECZNOŚCI
THE AMERICAN EDUCATION REFORMS AND DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING THEIR EFFICIENCY

Summary/Abstract: system. Critics show, that the system is in a deep crisis and does not measure up to public expectations in proving high quality and equal education for all students. Despite the fact of large increase in expenditure for education in the last decade, the schools are accused of wasting money, by allocating them for programs and activities not serving students’ improvement. The aim of this article is to focus on the key educational problems in the United States in the context of education reforms. The first part presents main assumptions and directions of educational reforms conducted in the second half of the last century, as well as the new strategy for education, No Child Left Behind Act, introduced by President George W. Bush in 2001. The following chapter shows expenditure for education in the last 30 years and students’ achievements in tests in this period. In spite of the increase in expenditure, the results of tests have not raised. The chapter also describes other challenging problems – the gap in achievements between white and other students, as well as the high percentage of dropout of school in the groups of minority students, especially Hispanic. The next chapter presents federal programs promoting equal opportunity in access to education for children in pre-school classes (Head Start), disadvantaged students (Title I), and students at the risk of school failure. The last chapter presents disputes and controversies about key elements of school reform: the school financing and its effectiveness, the Bilingual Education for students with Limited English Proficiency, and the federal Class-Size Reduction Program.

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