Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students
“The Trouble with Testing and Common Core State Standards”chapter alone, is worth the price of the book. The author clearly substantiates the nonsense, abuses and frauds associated with the high-stakes testing movement. The discussion about the Common Core State Standards clearly illustrates how non K-12 individuals devised the core to belittle teachers and the public schools. The author notes that no formative evaluation has ever been part of any of the testing movements. And, then notes the total lack of pilot testing on the current vogue of achievement tests. This is must read chapter by all educational policy makers.(Donald C. Orlich, professor emeritus, Washington State University; coauthor “Teaching Strategies: A Guide to Effective Instruction”)“The Dangers of Criminalizing Students”chapterprovides a thoughtful and accessible analysis of challenges that ought to be at the very heart of our conversations about educational reform today. Before we can improve what we do, we need to work together to reject interested messages that are designed to confuse and distract, saturating communication channels with sound-bites about teachers, counselors, and students that make it more difficult for us to see, let alone understand, the forces transforming our schools. I applaud the efforts here to unpack and clarify the dangers manifest in the many ways we are criminalizing our students.(Bill Lyons, professor and director for conflict management, political science, University of Akron; coauthor “Punishing Schools: Fear and Citizenship in American Public Education”)This book reveals the many aspects outside of school that affect student achievement, including an almost unprecedented recognition of the well documented consequences of lead poisoning on children’s learning and behavior. Knowledge of the consequences of lead poisoning have been well documented in the public health community for decades but few educators have shown an awareness of dealing with those consequences among their students.(Michael T. Martin, research analyst for the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA), author of the ASBA Online Report: “A Strange Ignorance: The Role of Lead Poisoning in Failing Schools”)Nancy Bailey raises questions about school reform everyone should be asking.(Julia Wilkins, research associate, Clemson University, National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities; author “Group Activities to Include Students With Special Needs: Developing Social Interactive Skills”)The chapter concerning public school facilities presents a very powerful argument – and in my view one that is sustained by facts. This is certainly a story that needs telling.(Alex Molnar, research professor, publications director, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado; author of numerous books and articles on social and educational policy and practice)Detailing the negative effects of current education reforms on kids, parents, teachers, and schools, Bailey, a former teacher and principal, argues that "we must reject the 'one size fits all' mentality." She presents evidence that education reform is really about privatization and that education reformers are diverting public school funds into new charter schools run by outside organizations. Some of the problem areas she explores include Common Core State Standards, the dangers of criminalizing students, the elimination of the arts, and run-down public school buildings. The author recommends that reform begin with addressing students' mental, emotional, and behavioral problems.(Book News, Inc.)