Toward a Science of Education
I have long been an admirer of Jim Kauffman's work as a scholar, researcher, and policy analyst. He is a master of language and one of the very best, most insightful thinkers in our field. More than any professional I know, Jim has engaged the discourse regarding seminal educational issues in a way that is rational, thoughtful and constructive. Aside from his amazing writing and conceptual skills, one of his greatest contributions is in teaching us how to think critically about educational practices that sound good but in fact are damaging to our interests as a society and to the youth and families who must abide them. In this very interesting book, he refers to the era of "magical thinking" about education and how this system of advocacy purports to solve the myriad problems that continue to plague delivery of quality instruction and the achievement of positive educational outcomes for our children and youth. For example, it is assumed that subjecting all students to high stakes testing will somehow turn those who are motivated into achievers while those who are insufficiently responsive to such testing pressures will be justifiably left to fend for themselves. Aside from the fact that our society cannot afford such a throwaway solution, this approach does not work and it is an insult to every student's right to access the best educational programming appropriate for him or her. Jim's answer to these clarion calls for action is to embrace real science as opposed to rogue science in policy, educational practices and decision-making regarding the operation of our school systems.  In Toward A Science of Education, he contrasts the nature of real science from the appeal of rogue science and shows how embracing the later leads to the advocacy for simple solutions that do not begin to address the complexity of what's involved in creating quality schools which allow all who come through the schoolhouse door to have an equal chance at realizing their potential. Effective schooling is a scientifically-based enterprise that has considerable complexity which is not well served by the weak support that our society has afforded schools and educators. Solid research findings now allow us to realize with certainty that reading skills are of critical importance to a successful schooling experience and that we can detect problem readers as early as kindergarten and first grade. Scientific studies have clearly shown that phonetically-based approaches to teaching beginning reading are superior to other methods. We know that every student needs to be taught generic school success skills at the beginning their school careers in order to maximize their changes of school success. We know that the academic progress of all students should be monitored carefully and regularly--especially in their early school careers--in order to prevent failure and dropout in the later grades. The list of what we know, based on the sort of scientific evidence that Jim so articulately presents in this book, goes on and on. The tragedy is that so many of today's K-12 students are not exposed to these practices due in no small part to rogue science and its major byproduct--magical thinking.  Toward A Science of Education provides us with a foundation and template for creating a Science of Educational Practice. It is our best hope for salvaging many of our distressed schools. A major tenet of such a science would be the promotion and adoption of policies and decision-making processes that are based on solid, scientific evidence whenever possible. We know a tremendous amount regarding how to create effective schools, but as Jim Kauffman has noted in other venues, the gap between what has become known scientifically through solid research and that which is applied is often decades wide. This book tells us that it is past time to change. --Hill M. Walker, Ph.D., Professor, College of Education