Most people make no distinction between public schools and public education.
Public schools are not an end in themselves, but just one of many possible means of achieving the goal of public education. By putting public education and public schools in the same conceptual box, policymakers have been led to focus on improving public schools as the only way to improve public education. Yet reading scores today are no higher than they were in 1909. For those who argue that students today are simply less able to achieve, every IQ study since 1932 shows an average gain of about 3 points per decade, or an average of nearly 15 points higher by the end of the 1970s. School Reform News School Reform News is a project of The Heartland Institute .