미국 중등교육의 개혁과 쟁점

Abstract

This article reviewed reform of American public education in federal and state government level and extracted some issues in American education to gain the implication for Korean education. There is dearly crisis in U.S. secondary schools, especially in public high schools. In this article, crisis in American secondary schools was traced by students, teachers, schools, and impact on American society. Nearly every international assessment showed that american students fall short of their counterparts in other advanced countries. The national reform movement in education shifted focus of educational policy from equality to excellence. A series of policy reports spotlighted current concern for excellence is summarized. Despite criticisms by members of educational community, the reports have captured national attention, highlighted nationwide concern for the educational quality, and upgraded school standards. The state reform movement in education got momentum since the 1980s and can be categorized into such fou r types of reform as student achievement, professionalism, curriculum, and accountability by high stake testing. Issues in U.S. education can be summarized as school choice, academic achievement gap, standard based reform and NCLB, and multicultural education. These issues are also problems confronting Korean education.