Rethinking Education Reform: A Human Rights Perspective

by Mariah McGill

On November 6th and 7th, the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy at Northeastern University School of Law will host its eighth annual ESC Rights Institute.  Each PHRGE Institute brings scholars, advocates and practitioners to together to explore a critical policy issue from a human rights perspective.  This year’s Institute “Rethinking Education Reform: A Human Rights Perspective” will analyze and evaluate the combination of initiatives known as “public education reform” from a human rights perspective. It will do so with an eye toward identifying policies that will help promote and support the human right to education (alongside all other human rights) for all U.S. school children.

The Institute will focus on three critical aspects of the education reform agenda: 1) The charter school movement and the broader trend toward the private provision of public education services; 2) The emergence of “no excuses/zero tolerance” discipline policies resulting in the exclusion of students from school as a primary response to behaviors that are often manifestations of broader social problems and; 3) The continued expansion of high stakes testing as the principal means of motivating and measuring educational achievement in public schools, alongside related efforts to further standardize public school curricula.

The first day of the two-day Institute will feature public panel presentations and a keynote address that will document and analyze the three pillars of education reform mentioned above and familiarize attendees with a human rights-based framework of analysis. The second day of the Institute will feature intensive, small group work designed to generate concrete policy proposals consistent with the promotion of the human right to education. Both days are open to the public though the small group format of the second day will limit the number of participants that can be included in those sessions.  On-line registration will be open in September — and check back often for updates on speakers.  We hope those in the Boston area, and elsewhere, will join us!