Book Description
Former Secretary of Education Rod Paige gives the inside story of how teachers' unions are selfishly shackling our students to a failing education system, exposing the bullying techniques of the National Education Association-how these unions terrorize teachers, students, and their parents.
Customer Reviews:
Correct on Some Points, Misleading On Others.......2007-07-30
I am a veteran public school teacher and read this entire captivating book in one sitting. Paige does make some valid arguments about the corrupt, anti-child actions of teachers unions. Some of his frustrations I share 100%. First of all, I agree that unions make it very difficult for school districts to fire blatantly incompetent teachers. I know that because being a teacher myself, I have had to work with some of these teachers. They are a cancer on our profession and make us all look bad. For example, a few years ago, I taught in a classroom next to a teacher who would scream and yell at her 3rd grade children (mostly Hispanic) that they were "stupid and lazy." One day, we could hear her yelling such vicious things at her students that even a few of my own 5th grade students started crying. In tears, one girl asked me why that teacher "was allowed to treat little kids that way" and if I could go next door and ask her to stop. This teacher would also have some of the very lowest test scores in the district year after year after year, therefore bringing down the academic ranking of our entire school. Everyone, including the principal, knew how horrible this teacher was, but the principal refused to do anything because she knew that the union would protect this teacher 100% and that therefore any attempt to discipline her would be a futile waste of time and effort.
I also agree with Paige that because of union contracts, there is very little incentive, apart from a teacher's own conscience, to go "above and beyond" to help the students learn. The teacher pay scale applies to every single teacher, regardless of his/her competence or effectiveness, and is based only on seniority and continuing education units. Therefore, the veteran 30-year teacher who does the bare minimum will usually make at least TWICE as much as the new teacher down the hall who comes to work early, stays late, works hard, and does a darn good job teaching the kids. Paige cites research which claims that a teacher's effectiveness declines after he/she has been on the job for five years. If this claim is accurate, it is probably due to the fact that a teacher's salary does not correlate even one bit to how good that teacher is. Once a teacher has been in the system for a while, he/she begins to realize this and as a result, there is a decline in motivation to perform the job well.
However, I do take issue with Paige on some points. First of all, it appears that he wants to make teachers unions the "scapegoat" and implies that these unions are the main cause (if not the sole cause) for low academic achievement. However, although teachers unions should bear some of the responsibility, they are by no means the only ones at fault. In fact, one reason why we need a union is to protect us from incompetent administrators in our school districts. The elimination of tenure would allow a principal to arbitrarily dismiss a teacher for any reason, even if that teacher is the most skilled and competent in the school. Such reasons might include something as trivial as a mere personality conflict or the adminstrator's own personal and subjective opinions about the teacher's performance. Teachers would be afraid to "blow the whistle" on a corrupt principal or administrator for fear of being fired. I can tell you that it would be very difficult for me to give my full attention to teaching the children if I were consistently worrying in the back of my head whether or not I would have a job the next year to pay my bills and support my own kids. Still, the fact remains that tenure does protect some pretty LOUSY teachers, but completely eliminating it would be even more disastrous for our students. I would also suggest that in my exprience, tenure and unions are not the only reasons why so many incompetent teachers remain in the clasroom. Often, the school principal is also to blame by not properly documenting a teacher's deficiencies, as well as top school district administrators who will not support principals who choose to take steps to have an incompetent teacher dismissed.
Paige also suggests that teacher pay should be tied with student academic performance measures (i.e. standardized tests). This suggestion is based on a deeply flawed assumption that if students are performing at a high level academically, their teacher must be outstanding, and that if students are failing, the teacher must be lousy. The idea of "merit pay" would end up harming the very students it aims in theory to protect. If merit pay ever became a reality, most of the nation's best teachers would flock to school districts in affluent suburban neighborhoods that have the highest test scores. The students in low income areas, the ones who need good teachers the most, would be stuck with whatever is "left over." This is the inevitable result of a system that would penalize an outstanding teacher just because that teacher works in a school with high poverty or with students still learning English as a second language, while at the same time handsomely rewarding a terrible teacher who is lucky enough to teach in an affluent district with more socioeconomically privileged students who would still ace the standardized tests even if they had been taught by a fruitfly!
There are really no easy answers regarding these issues, but for Paige to place the blame squarely on teachers unions misses the point and ignores many other factors that have contributed to the failure of many of our public schools. Nonetheless, the book is well written, correct on many points (whether teachers or their unions like it or not), and very insightful. It is definitely worth the read for anyone holding a stake in the education of our children.
The Ball Is in the Union's Court.......2007-06-26
I have written many critiques of articles and books, but this book had my head swirling. I was a teacher and union building rep (at the same time) for many years and although I did not agree with everything the union did (who does?) I was never aware of the union's practices and history that Paige reports.
I have always considered a union necessary because of the practices and working conditions foisted on teachers by principals and district staffers (for the superintendent and board). Even though I walked picket lines and encouraged fellow teachers to join with full membership, I never protected an obviously-incompetent or racist teacher. In fact, I encouraged the principal to deal with him or her--to the consternation of my union Higher-Up. (You see, we teachers don't always blindly follow the union...or the administrators.)
One repeating problem in my school and district was caused by the upper-level administration placing on teachers the burden of one educational fad after another--all (to my knowledge) ending in failure and the waste of millions of the taxpayers' dollars.
And just like some teachers pass students along with no justification, so do some teacher college professors pass potential teachers who immediately or eventually fail our students, the community and the nation.
As Paige would seem to agree, I think teachers' unions should be only a business entity dealing with working conditions and pay. Leave the curriculum up to the superintendent (not that he or she has done a great job), or, as in charter schools, up to the local school.
Yes, I have once or twice been the subject of union harassment by one or more of the union's "blind" followers, but I was tough enough to handle it. And I didn't consider this treatment pervasive. Paige has revealed many negative practices by teachers' unions that need to be answered by them. But, remember, unions do not hire teachers (even if a certain board may be in a union's pocket, as Paige reports), so blame the boards of education, the administrator and curriculum developers at the administration headquarters.
I am not in sympathy with the idea--pushed by Paige--that teachers should receive merit or performance pay for a job well done. In my own classes I had students who learned much faster than others--and all of my students were poor enough to have a lunch subsidy. I worked very hard to get results, but a teacher in an area where most students are on level can get the same results or better and not have to put in the hours and effort I did, and he or she may receive merit pay, but not me. So, additional pay based on test scores (measured against a standard) is not fair to teachers.
Let me explain further. I say hire only quality teachers and check that quality not by how the students meet a standard, but how much progress the students have made toward that standard. If--and I'm not exaggerating here, especially for big-city schools--50 to 75 percent of my 8th graders enter my class not knowing their times tables (which means their math is hardly above grade 3) and they leave my room testing at the end of grade 6, they have made around 3 years of progress in one year! Yet, they are still 2 years behind being ready to move into grade 9. This means, they don't meet the acceptable standard for math. And I don't deserve performance pay. This is what I know and it is what teachers' unions know. "Merit" pay is a theory in the field of teaching youngsters. If it's put into practice and schools still don't improve performance that much (meaning some teachers may be fired), what are we to do, given that teaching has one of the greatest turn-over rates of any profession? The reality is that up to 50% of new teachers leave the profession within five years. I think supporters of performance pay are barking up the wrong tree.
If one is wondering if teachers need unions, one needs only read of the history of U.S. teaching to get an answer. (See my book, MT. HOREB: THE LITTLE WHITE SCHOOLHOUSE ON LITTLE DEER CREEK to get a short history; then check the bibliography.) We can't go back to the days when teachers were basically educational missionaries: Paige lauds those teachers that spend their days, nights and weekends (yes, cell-phone available) "serving" their students and indicating that this is what he thinks is a good example of dedication.
And for some interesting and moving labor songs (union history) get the lively CD "Classic Labor Songs."
I agree with Paige that for the sake of the students and the nation changes in most teachers' unions' non-student/teacher-oriented power needs to change. How those changes can be crafted to the benefit of all does need to be hammered out. Paige gives some of his ideas for improvement. How are the unions going to react? How are parents going to react? His book is against teachers' unions (of course, he will protest that, mildly)--though he does rightly praise a few union "mavericks," as he calls them. He says (after much criticism) that he thinks most teachers are praiseworthy, except that they are not quite so because of their blind allegiance to their unions who, he says, blinded them. He thinks he has strongly presented his evidence, now let the strong unions counter.
Let's hope this sorry state of affairs is soon corrected. It's not practical to think we can throw the babies (some unions, boards, teachers, teachers' colleges and even parents) out with the bath water (techniques for change), but let's do change the diapers (some present philosophies).
take back our schools.......2007-05-07
This book did an excellent job uncovering the danger our public schools are experiencing.It is a must read for all Americans.We must force our elected officials to address the teachers unions and make teachers accountable.The education system should reward excellent teachers and extract bad ones.The time is now.Encourage good business people to run for school boards.The system has to be changed to secure America's future.
I hope this is read by everyone who pays taxes to fund our public schools.......2007-04-25
This topic is so heated that it is easy for each side to accuse the other of bad faith and to make accusations that do not have substance. Let me say right out that I believe that nearly all classroom teachers are dedicated people who care about their students and most are good at what they do. Some are excellent and some are incompetent, but this is something that is known by everyone about people who work in every field of endeavor. Also, I am NOT against labor unions.
I do think they are most often brought about by bad employers, but there are also unions who are brought about by politics. And it is the mix of politics and union economic power that is as toxic as the mix of big business and politics. Each situation hurts society by stifling competition and moving the purpose of the organization from producing what it was created to do to providing jobs or economic rents for parties with the political power. Both are bad things and should be fought against, strenuously.
Neither is Rod Paige, the author of this book, attacking teachers or even unions in general. What he is against is that in our present educational system, the unions have linked their identity as the classroom teachers when they are something apart from them even while representing them. The unions have not only tremendous political power to stifle reform, they also have often hand picked and gotten elected the board that is supposed to negotiate with the unions in setting the rules and signing the contracts. How can this be good? And if the kids aren't learning, what is the use of providing jobs for the teachers in the first place? It would be similar to create a car factory that could not build proper cars, but all the energy went into issues surround those building the cars (that weren't being built well) instead of facing squarely why the cars were coming off the line in such poor condition. Obviously, in the real world such a company would face competition and, if it couldn't fix its problems, would simply go out of business. However, for some reason we feel we cannot allow competition to improve the quality of education our children receive. This craziness isn't the fault of the teachers, but of the system that empowers the unions to block meaningful reform and competition.
This is an excellent book that should be read by everyone interested in the power of the teacher's unions and how they behave in preventing meaningful change or even experimentation in trying to find a better way for educating our children.
Let me say again, I am PRO TEACHER. I think they need to be paid fairly. However, we have school systems to educate OUR children. They do not belong to society. They belong to us. We pay the tax dollars that fund the schools. We should have almost complete say in how our school systems are run, how they are funded, and the curriculum taught. Yet, we do not. This book can help you understand who has that power, how they got it, and why we can't seem to get it back. The author points out that when people are crying out for more funding, as they always do, they are really saying they are out of meaningful ideas. Money never fixes anything. That is true.
Here is a little thought experiment. People say we need to pay teachers more to get improvement by getting the best teachers. But when we raise teacher pay, do we get rid of the existing teachers and hire in new and better teachers at the new higher pay? Of course not! We just pay the existing people more. How does that get us better teachers? If you go to McDonalds and pay $2 more for a Big Mac, does it become a better hamburger? No. It is exactly the same. It doesn't change simply because you pay more for it. You would need to go to a place that serves better hamburgers at the higher price to get a better burger.
As long as the same people occupy their places they are not going to improve over increased salaries. There may be things we can do with infrastructure that can help. But simply stuffing the teachers' pockets or hiring more administrators (heaven forfend) will not educate our children more effectively.
The idea that we exist simply to provide tax dollars and do the bidding of the present education establishment while they make all the decisions about curriculum and get their advantages made into laws further disenfranchising those who should be in control of the school districts is obscene to me. But you will have to decide for yourself. This book can present you with great information about the present situation.
Book Description
For over a century, Americans have translated their cultural anxieties and hopes into dramatic demands for educational reform. Although policy talk has sounded a millennial tone, the actual reforms have been gradual and incremental. Tinkering toward Utopia documents the dynamic tension between Americans' faith in education as a panacea and the moderate pace of change in educational practices.
In this book, David Tyack and Larry Cuban explore some basic questions about the nature of educational reform. Why have Americans come to believe that schooling has regressed? Have educational reforms occurred in cycles, and if so, why? Why has it been so difficult to change the basic institutional patterns of schooling? What actually happened when reformers tried to "reinvent" schooling?
Tyack and Cuban argue that the ahistorical nature of most current reform proposals magnifies defects and understates the difficulty of changing the system. Policy talk has alternated between lamentation and overconfidence. The authors suggest that reformers today need to focus on ways to help teachers improve instruction from the inside out instead of decreeing change by remote control, and that reformers must also keep in mind the democratic purposes that guide public education.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, although dated.......2006-11-19
Having read Tinkering Toward Utopia for one of my graduate classes in administration at the GSE at Rutgers, I would summarize that the book is excellent, but a little bit dated.
Tyack & Cuban present a well-done overview of the American educational system, from its beginnings in the early 20th century through the mid-1980's. Their theme, "tinkering toward utopia," is an interesting take on addressing school reform throughout the century and sheds light on the problems and pitfalls of "overpromising" and "hyperbole" that have existed--and continue to exist--in American education. Overall, the text is easy to read and is replete with well-developed examples.
My only caution is that although the ideas presented continue through and are valied in modern times, the examples and data contained in the work are, for lack of a better word, dated--11 years in public education, especially with 5+ of those years overshadowed by NCLB, is a long time of increased levels of accountability that are missing in what could be "a century (and a little more) of public school reform." One would hope that a revised edition be published in the near future with a chapter or two specifically devoted to those last 5 years of the 20th century and the transition into the 21st.
However, overall, the text is excellent and highly informative.
Must-read for ed reformers.......2006-06-26
The history of public school reform in the United States has been characterized by institutional inertia and myriad failed attempts at wholesale change. Although policy elites, educators, school pundits, and the lay public regularly disagree about why we have intractable schools, David Tyack and Larry Cuban, in Tinkering toward Utopia, argue that a careful and complete understanding of schools as institutions has long eluded those who attempt to effect change in schools. The authors also claim that incremental change in education is a natural and viable phenomenon, not a symbol of a failed system. By rendering these arguments through sociopolitical and historical lenses, they present a comprehensive take on the stagnancy of school reform.
Although the word tinkering can connote clumsiness or incompetence, the authors use it in an equivocal sense in order to argue that educational change for better or worse has been piecemeal, largely due to what they call the grammar of schooling. Radical reforms, such as merit-based teacher pay and open classrooms, have repeatedly failed to make a lasting impression on schools largely because they have attempted to alter the structural and behavioral regularities that are entrenched in the notion of what constitutes a "real school." The argument, although effective, is nothing new: Sarason's (1971) illustrative example of the "man from outer space" immediately comes to mind. However, Tyack and Cuban take this argument to another level by diagnosing many failed reform efforts as "too intramural" (p. 108), and incongruent with external forces (e.g., college admission requirements, labor market needs).
How the grammar of schooling was engendered and why it has remained seemingly immutable is the real thrust of the problem. Like good scholars, Tyack and Cuban do not ignore political dimensions. They soundly argue that despite the ostensible claim that centralized governance of schools by experts would forever "take the schools out of politics," technocratic control of schools actually had just the opposite effect in practice, for the act of devolving power to a single group has the word politics written all over it. Furthermore, the structural regularities that exist today (e.g., age-graded schools, egg-crate classrooms, departmentalized high schools) secured their places in the schooling schema long ago by first gaining the necessary political support, and then by demonstrating that they were efficient and easily replicable. Crystallized school traditions have essentially become the blinders that prevent the universe of alternatives to be considered.
Tyack and Cuban clearly expose their advocacy of the classroom teacher as a critical change agent. Their argument is lucid and point-blank: schools change reforms. "Once the schoolroom door was shut, most teachers retained considerable autonomy to instruct the children as they saw fit" (p. 115). Unsurprisingly, thwarted attempts to introduce change from the outside were typically ones which grossly misunderstood or failed to take into account teacher perspectives. The authors describe reforms as blueprints meant to be altered, not followed indiscriminately, and they buttress this notion with empirical evidence detailing how reforms have been tempered, marginalized, or even rejected by teachers. While careful to avoid the emotional arguments such as the oft-cited teacher-as-unsung-hero plea, they extend a clarion call to empowerment of those who work closer to the front-lines of education.
As a caveat, Tyack and Cuban caution readers not to judge the success of reforms by frequency, longevity, and even fidelity of implementation. Rather, those who understand the value of local differences and teacher concerns, and more importantly, that schools are simply not "wax to be imprinted" (p. 83) but rather highly dynamic and idiosyncratic institutions, will be best able to wield the elusive wand of change.
A different take on educational history.......2005-11-12
If you are looking for a general history of American public education, look elsewhere. However, if you are interested in an examination of *why* American education is the way it is, then this book is for you. Tyack and Cuban delve into questions that should concern anyone with an interest in educational reform, such as: What has driven our desire to change education? Why do some reforms work while others don't? Their examination of these questions alone is worth the read, and their style (concise and clear) makes the reading itself a pleasure.
Best Brief Intro to Educational Reform in the US.......2001-12-09
Tinkering Toward Utopia is simply the best brief introduction to the history of educational reform in the US available. Anyone with a genuine interest in historical explanations of why grand schemes of school reform fail and why "crisis" is the way the US has tended to view its need for school reform, will be rewarded by this clearly written account. The book substitutes complex historical analysis for the usual simple-minded polemics of writing on education, but the authors do not weigh the book down with a lot of historical evidence and inpenetrable footnotes. I highly recommend this book for anyone who cares about the prospects of reforming public schools in the US.
disappointed after reading this book.......2000-10-11
Just as someone said below, "Good book for a report but not for pleasure reading".
Book Description
Based entirely on research from peer-reviewed journals and randomized controlled trials,
The Sixty-Second Motivator is an easily read story that reveals practical motivational techniques. In less than 100 pages, readers will have the necessary tools to enable them to motivate themselves or others. A handy worksheet is also included which guides the reader through the motivational process.
Customer Reviews:
Sixty Second Motivator.......2007-09-19
This is a great little book. It is written in a light style that makes it easy to read and digest the principles that Jim spells out. If you have ever tried to make a change and been unsuccessful in accomplishing your goal this little book will help you to understand why you failed and how you can increase your chance of success. I found it to be helpful both with my own personal goals and in better understanding what may help to motivate my clients to achieve their stated goals.
It Really Works!.......2007-08-08
Forget the motivational seminars, DVDs, and CDs. This little book has more insights into motivation than anything else I have seen! No hype here.
The author has taken complex concepts and made them easy to understand in an entertaining way. I use the practical tips not only to motivate my patients, but also to motivate myself!
The Sixty-Second Motivator- Book Review.......2007-06-12
Both my husband and I enjoyed this book a lot. We found it to be a neat, well organized little book written in an easy-to-understand, straight-forward style that is genuinely enjoyable while at the same time providing valuable insights about why we do or do not do things. While we found it quite analytical about key factors concerning motivation, the book didn't make us feel intimidated or "preached at". The tone of the book came across to us as friendly, low-key, very helpful, analytical and a valuable "keeper" to refer to in life's future situations.
Excellent read!!.......2007-03-08
This is an excellent read and one book you will finish reading. They say that most poeople don't finish books they buy, but this one is soo relevant to our lives that you will want to read it cover to cover several times! Keeping it in my day planner for a random quick read infusion throughout the day helps keep me on track!!
The missing link!.......2006-09-19
Having read Jim Johnson's No Beach No Zone weight loss book, I knew WHAT to do, plain and simple, and WHY it was important. So why wasn't I doing what the book laid out as a proven plan for weight loss? It's all about motivation. There's even a chapter on motivation in his weight loss book - but this book takes it one step further, into the science of motivation. Personally I think both books dovetail into one another well, especially if your lack of motivation happens to be in the field of losing weight. The science of how to lose weight permanently, and the science of motivating yourself to do anything. Once again, this is all based on research and not what one guy thinks.
One of the best surprises about this book is the way it is written. Without giving away too much, I can tell you that this book is more of a story than a collection of facts, and reads almost like a mystery. One thing's for sure, it's extremely engaging. I read the whole think in one sitting; the research and strategy don't take volumes to explain or lay out. I'm not one to read huge volumes, and Jim Johnson always makes a concise read devoid of medical mumbo-jumbo. The actual motivation chart takes up one page and really makes you think about what makes your own self "tick". The only excuse for not getting motivated is if you aren't willing to give up one hour of your time, and a little more time spent thinking straight.
Book Description
In 1998, the first edition of Teaching To Change The World broke new ground in teacher education by positioning the foundations and practices of American schooling in the context of the struggle for social justice, democratic communities, and a better world. Indeed, "teaching to change the world” has become more than a book title; for thousands of individuals and for entire teacher education programs it is an everyday expression that embodies rigorous preparation and the highest professional aspirations for becoming a teacher.
Author Jeannie Oakes was the founding director of UCLA’s Center X--the institutional home of the university’s teacher education program--a program based on the research and principles that Teaching To Change The World represents. Oakes draws from her distinguished research career as a sociologist of education to integrate the components of educational foundations into a thematic and ideological whole. The result is a sustainable theory of education that positions new teachers to be highly competent in the classroom, lifelong education reformers, and education leaders and partners with students and families. Co-author Martin Lipton brings to this book 31 years of classroom experience and a parallel career as education writer and consultant. His photographs of the book’s featured teachers and their students reveal that social justice classrooms are both ordinary and inspired.
Customer Reviews:
Naive and oversimplified.......2006-10-14
The sad thing is, this facile relativism is being perpetrated on a new generation of teachers who, I fear, will think it is the last word intellectually. Throughout this book there is the smug certainty that the postmodernists have advanced beyond silly mistakes, like believing in truth, that afflicted the poor benighted thinkers of the past. The writers set up false dichotomies and straw men, such as the naive view that if one thinks that a text has a meaning to be discovered in it, then one must think that that meaning must be precisely what the author intended (1999 ed., p. 130). Throughout all of this there are some good insights, such as that "the tension of 'not knowing'" is "a productive and necessary element of learning" (p. 71). But many of these ideas owe to Piaget or the constructivism of Jerome Bruner, and there is no need to lump such ideas together with the authors' "postmodernist" doctrine. While the authors pursue their agenda of "social justice," and their readers hop on the bandwagon, are our children in fact getting a well-rounded, intellectually rich education?
A fascinating introduction to constructivism.......2003-11-05
This book does take a pretty biased view of teaching, but it warns you of this upfront. Teaching is inherently political and this book doesn't try to feign some mythical objectivity.
If you want to teach with traditional, back-to-basics methods, then read this book to at least see the other side. Use it to develop your own disagreement. If you want to teach in a way that encourages students to create knowledge and think critically, read this book to understand how this is even possible, but also go find another book which takes the opposite perspective so you can fully develop your own understanding of teaching.
Its true, you have to take much of this book with a grain of salt. But the fact is that there is no "center" to the politics of teaching, and there is no fair and balanced way to present any political agenda. The choice to teach in a traditional manner is a political choice as well.
What this book lacks is a deeper description of traditionalist/conservative motives in the educational arena. Too often it glosses over the desires of traditionalist motivation and insituates consipiracy theory about the true goal of such groups' agendas.
However, if you keep all this in mind as you read it, you'll learn some rather fascinating things.
interesting.......2002-05-21
This book is very upfront with its goals. It advocates the examination of every aspect of schooling in an attempt to overhaul the system to maximize the effectiveness of learning.
Such an examination has at its core three questions. As they were expressed by the professor of the course for which I read this book, they are "What knowledge?, Why that knowledge?, And who benefits from passing on that knowledge?" It is obvious, even from the title, that the authors don't believe that the benefits of traditional education practices are widespread. Indeed, they advocate a progressivist philosophy with a particular emphasis on multicultural education.
I'm not sure how this really affects my opinion of the book. While I do tend to believe in a fairly student-centered approach to teaching, and I do appreciate the need for greater cultural awareness in this increasingly globalized world, the tone of the book seems a little too forceful for my tastes, neglecting the fact that many Americans work from a basis of the western culture they grew up in, and insulting that culture, which this book borders on doing at times, is not a good way to convert people to your side.
What I did like about this book is the completeness of its history, as it details events that are both notable and not so notable that have had impact on the development of educational theory and educational politics, even if the impact isn't so obvious. And even if the tone does bother me at times, I must admit that the numerous examples of young teachers trying to implement the favored philosophies are quite convincing, maybe even more so than the rest of the text.
So, in short, I find the book a strange mixed bag of philosophies I largely agree with presented in a way that inconsistently works to advance the adoption of them.
Depending on your political persuasion.......2002-01-24
"It is neither honest nor objective to describe popular teaching practices in a neutral manner if they do not stand up to the standards of social justice or education research. We do not believe that the world is a neutral place or that teaching is a neutral profession." Introduction to Teaching, etc.
Be forwarned that this is not a textbook that even tries to be objective about the history of teaching and learning. It is vehemently anti-traditionalist, and glowingly pro-constructivist.
For traditionalists or people looking for a balanced view of the history of American schooling, this work rates 1 star.
For constructivists or marxists this would be a 5 star.
Product Description
"Giving test results to an incoherent, badly run school doesn't automatically make it a better school. The work of turning a school around entails improving the knowledge and skills of teachers-changing their knowledge of content and how to teach it-and helping them to understand where their students are in their academic development. Low-performing schools, and the people who work in them, don't know what to do. If they did, they would be doing it already."
So writes Richard Elmore in "Unwarranted Intrusion," an essay critiquing the accountability mandates and high-stakes testing policies of the No Child Left Behind Act. In School Reform from the Inside Out, one of the country's leading experts on the successes and failures of American education policy tackles issues ranging from teacher development to testing to "failing" schools. As Elmore aptly notes, successful school reform begins "from the inside out" with teachers, administrators, and school staff, not with external mandates or standards. This collection of some of Elmore's most probing and influential essays is essential reading for any school leader, education reformer, policymaker, or citizen interested in the forces that promote real school change.
Book Description
Jean Anyon's groundbreaking new book reveals the influence of federal and metropolitan policies and practices on the poverty that plagues schools and communities in American cities and segregated, low-income suburbs. Public policies...such as those regulating the minimum wage, job availability, tax rates, federal transit, and affordable housing...all create conditions in urban areas that no education policy as currently conceived can transcend. In this first book since her best-selling Ghetto Schooling, Jean Anyon argues that we must replace these federal and metro-area policies with more equitable ones so that urban school reform can have positive life consequences for students.
Anyon provides a much-needed new paradigm for understanding and combating educational injustice. Radical Possibilities reminds us that historically, equitable public policies have been typically created as a result of the political pressure brought to bear by social movements. Basing her analysis on new research in civil rights history and social movement theory, Anyon skillfully explains how the current moment offers serious possibilities for the creation of such a force. The book powerfully describes five social movements already under way in U.S. cities, and offers readers interested in building this new social movement a set of practical and theoretical insights into securing economic and educational justice for the many millions of America's poor families and students.
Customer Reviews:
Organizing for school change .......2006-03-23
Radical Possibilities is a well written description of several of the current crises in our nation, focusing on public education. Prof. Anyon excels at placing the public school crisis in its appropriate and complex economic context. I recommend the book to the well informed, well read reader. The book is well written and clearly organized.
The later chapters offer a hope for change including an emphasis on working with Community Based organizations.
I teach in a graduate program in Multi lingual Multicultural Education at Calif. State University-Sacramento. We have the good fortune of working with hundreds of teachers, over two thirds Latino and/or Asian. We used this book for the first time this year in a course on Advocacy and Change in Education.
The Anyon book served well along with my own book, Choosing Democracy: a Practical guide to Multicultural Education (2004)
We live in a very changing time from the era of the active Civil Rights movement. Teachers, and other educational workers, need to understand the complex interactions between social science analysis of the communities and school reform and/or school renewal. The Anyon book does this very well. She introduces important economics data in an understandable manner. In most settings readers will need assistance and further explanations of the basic economic concepts and relationships.
Duane Campbell
www.choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com
Customer Reviews:
Why isn't Glickman Secretary of Education?.......2006-03-28
He focuses on what education is all about. The public school system was created in this country for one reason alone: to create better citizens for our democracy. These essays all point to this. It sounds simple, but we're clearly not going about it correctly. Great food for thought and will lead to powerful discussion.
Book Description
In this important book, Norm Fruchter argues that our national failure to carry out the Brown mandate has produced segregated urban school systems that fail poor students of color. Drawing on a rich array of research and personal experience, he examines why urban districts have failed and what must be done to transform our city schools. He identifies urban districts as the key actors in this transformation and profiles three school districts that have achieved significant success in closing the achievement gap. He also identifies grassroots community organizing as a critical lever for provoking and supporting meaningful change in schools.
Customer Reviews:
One-sided and angry..........2006-03-10
This book reads like the blog of some angry person who ignores evidence to the contrary and embraces anything that agrees with him. It was very hard to take seriously.
Searching for Concensus.......2003-06-07
Whether you are reading reviews HERE or the Stedman's review and subsequent heated debate in the reviewed journal (check ERIC database), you couldn't help but get the feeling that THERE IS ENOUGH EVIDENCE and ENOUGH ANALYSES to justify EITHER sides of the argument, depending on your political and educational convictions. I am a cognitive psychologist and does research in schools. I felt that, short of checking up on every source and reading every cited papers by myself, I won't be able to draw a clear conclusion. However, maybe the differing points are not the only important part here. If we listen to what people do not argue, there lies the agreements between authors and reviewers.
1) Leave the issue of whether our overall aggregate achievement is declining or not, we can agree that schools in poor areas are funded poorly, and their students are achieving poorly by most standards.
2) Leave the political argument aside, we can agree that it is NOT FAIR to entirely blame (or credit) teachers or schools for underserved students' achievements. Our political system and culture must take a compassionate stand along with the accountability perspective in order to help these students.
3) Teachers can make differences in achievements if properly supported, but not overly burdened, tested, pressured, and mandated.
Let's put down the liberal or conservative or neo conservative hats for a bit. I think most Americans with good hearts agree that we should do what we can to help even the poorest child achieve. Common sense says that slapping more tests on that poor child isn't going to do it. Common sense says that slapping the child's teacher in the face for the child's failure isn't going to do it. Common sense also says just handing bundles of cash to the teacher or school isn't going to do it either. A problem inherent in the system must be addressed systemically, on all fronts.
The authors did favor one particular point of view and did selectively represent the evidence. But they are justified, given how one-sided the debate had been from our government to television to homes to even education circles. The defense tends to rise to the level of the offense, and we can mostly agree that the offense has been vicious and just as biased, if not more.
All in all, this book is WORTH reading. The debate between Stedman and authors are worth reading too. If you read both, I think that you would walk away less opinionated in either direction, and more compassionate towards the poor and low-achieving children of our country.
A different look at education "problems" in America.......2002-12-06
Berliner and Biddle are obviously coming from the opposite end of the spectrum than the writers of A NATION AT RISK. While it is refreshing to read a critique of American education that doesn't blame everything on the teachers, one must read this book as critically as Berliner and Biddle read the Bush administration report. Certainly, as an education grad. student, I found the idea that our government, by publishing A NATION AT RISK, falsified statistics, and, basically, made a flawed educational system seem disasterous. However, I feel it necessary to consider B & B's agenda--very liberal, and as another reviewer pointed out in discussing exchange rates and the per student expenditure of foreign countries, the pair may be as guilty of "shady statistics" as they accuse the authors of A NATION AT RISK. In all, I find this book provides a nice balance to all those education doomsayers, but must be taken with the same grain of salt.
Manufactured Numbers.......2002-07-21
David C Berliner and Bruce J Biddle wrote a book titled "The Manufactured Crisis: Myth, Fraud and Attack on America's Public Schools". The authors assert that it is a "myth that America spends a lot more on education than other countries". To back-up this claim, the authors present a chart on page 67 of the book which gives "k-12 expenditures for education in 16 different nations in 1985 (based on 1988 exchange rates)". All expenditures were given in American dollars. Since the fifteen foreign nations do not use the American dollar as their currancy, exchange rates were used to convert their spending levels to American dollars. Please note, however, that the year that the expenditures occured(1985) and the year of the exchange rates (1988) are different. Since exchange rates constantly change, the reported level of expenditures will vary depending upon which years exchange rates are used. If the 1985 exhange rates are used, the average level of per-pupil expenditures would be $2,523 for the fifteen foreign nations. If the 1988 exchange rates are used, this figure is inflated to $3,780. That is an increase of 49.8 percent. If the 1985 exchange rates are used, the United States ranks fourth among the sixteen industrialized countries in terms of per-pupil expenditures. Because this book uses the 1988 exchange rates, it asserts that the United States ranks ninth among these countries in terms of per-pupil eductational expenditures. Between 1981 and 1989, the dollar reached its lowest value in relations to other currencies in 1988. Therefore, the 1988 exchange rates inflate the foreign nations spending levels by the greatest amount.
Most economists do not consider exchange rates to be the best measure to compare levels of spending in different countries. This is because price levels differ between countries. In 1988 for example, the avereage price of a product in Switzerland was 54.5% higher than it was in the United States. Therefore, if an American school was given ten thousand dollars, it would be able to purchase more than would a Swiss school that was given a comparable amount of money. To compensate for these price differences, economists try to determine what the exchange rate would be if the price level were the same in each country. Economist refer to this rate of exchange as purchasing power parity (PPP).
To demonstrate how the purchasing power parity exchange rate would affect the comparisons, one only needs to examine the authors claim on page 67. The authors state that "the United States ranked only ninth among sixteen industrialized nations in per-pupil expenditures for grades k through 12, spending 14 percent LESS than Germany, 30 percent LESS than Japan, and 51 percent LESS than Switzerland". If the purchasing power parity exchange rates are used, the United States ranks fifth among sixteen industrialized nations in per-pupil expenditures for grades k through 12, spending 17 MORE than Germany, 23 percent MORE than Japan, and only 21 percent LESS than Switzerland.
No where else in the book do the authors make comparisons by mismatching exchange rates. For example, on page 225, the authors quoted a book which compared the per capita gross domestic product of various countries. The authors of that book did not mismatch the year of the exhange rates to determine a given country's per capita gross domestic product. On page 93 of the book, the authors quoted a report which compared American worker productivity with worker productivity in other nations. This report used exchange rates that are based on the purchasing power parity method that was described above.
The book states that it is a "myth that America spends a lot more money on education than other countries". This is not a myth. The real myth is the book's assertions about education spending. It should also be noted that most of these other countries have higher academic standards for their students in high school.
Because the authors do not deal properly with economic data, I also wonder about the accuracy of other data that is presented in this book. Consequently, I would not recommend that anyone buy this book
Antiquated.......2002-05-08
It's got good information. Had to read it for a class. But frankly, its very one sided in it opinions and leaves glaring logical discrepencies.
Book Description
"Ford Motor Company would not have survived the competition had it not been for an emphasis on results. We must view education the same way," the U.S. Secretary of Education declared in 2003. But is he right? In this provocative new book, Larry Cuban takes aim at the alluring cliché that schools should be more businesslike, and shows that in its long history in business-minded America, no one has shown that a business model can be successfully applied to education.
In this straight-talking book, one of the most distinguished scholars in education charts the Gilded Age beginnings of the influential view that American schools should be organized to meet the needs of American businesses, and run according to principles of cost-efficiency, bottom-line thinking, and customer satisfaction.
Not only are schools by their nature not businesslike, Cuban argues, but the attempt to run them along business lines leads to dangerous over-standardization--of tests, and of goals for our children. Why should we think that there is such a thing as one best school? Is "college for all" achievable--or even desirable? Even if it were possible, do we really want schools to operate as bootcamps for a workforce? Cuban suggests that the best business-inspired improvement for American education would be more consistent and sustained on-the-job worker training, tailored for the job to be done, and business leaders' encouragement--and adoption--of an ethic of civic engagement and public service.
Customer Reviews:
A must--timely, lively!.......2005-08-31
Larry Cuban is always timely, but amidst today's hype this is a well-informed, careful and much needed antidote to a lot of what gets said about schooling. It speaks to a wide audience--I hope teachers and school folks read it, and parents, and also the people who write the news we all read.
Deborah Meier
Books:
- The Winning Edge: Show Ring Secrets (Howell Reference Books)
- Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading
- Total Quality Service: Principles, Practices, and Implementation (St Lucie)
- Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
- University Physics with Modern Physics, 11th Edition
- Visual Strategies for Improving Communication : Practical Supports for School & Home
- Vocab Rock! Musical Preparation for the SAT and ACT, w/CD
- Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Reuse
- Why Didn't I Learn This in College?
- Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- How Markets Really Work: A Quantitative Guide to Stock Market Behavior
- Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason
- Organizing International Standardization: Iso and the Iasc in Quest of Authority
- The Complete Bluegrass Banjo Method
- Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Third Edition
- Brother Odd
- With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
- Intermediate Accounting Ready Notes 2: Chapters 15-25/Study Guide
- The Decline of the Welfare State: Demography and Globalization
- Trees & Shrubs of Kentucky
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
"It's Being Done": Academic Success in Unexpected Schools
Indoctrination U:The Left's War Against Academic Freedom
Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy.
Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education
