Cover image for What is authentic educational reform? : pushing against the compassionate conservative agenda
Title:
What is authentic educational reform? : pushing against the compassionate conservative agenda
Publication Information:
New York, NY : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008
Physical Description:
xxii, 232 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9780805860498

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30000010192152 LC89 W42 2008 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

"In response to the nationwide attacks on education in the name of educational reform packaged in No Child Left Behind, general analyses and local accounts of these attacks, as well as arguments on behalf of 'authentic educational reform' are badly needed.... This volume offers a useful combination of specific case studies, theory, and policy."
- Gerald Coles, educational psychologist, US

Challenging the compassionate conservative agenda for educational reform -- an agenda which seeks to improve American education through a business model focused on scripted lessons, lock-step approaches to teaching, high stakes-testing, and rigid accountability measures -- this book critiques the assumptions of this agenda, examines the problems that have riddled its implementation in schools, and suggests constructive alternatives. Educational theorists and researchers including Joel Spring, Sonia Nieto, Bill Ayers, and Susan Ohanian, classroom teachers, and parents, offer a mix of perspectives on:

the social and political contexts of current educational reform initiatives; the impact of the compassionate conservative agenda on educational policies and practices; the ways in which children and teachers are affected by this agenda and its policies; and approaches that hold out hope for implementing authentic education reform.

Intended for education professionals, students, and scholars, What Is Authentic Educational Reform? poses more questions than it answers, but taken together, these questions constitute a foundation for a more informed and thoughtful public conversation about how to refocus reform efforts in a direction that will truly strengthen American public education for all children and their families.


Table of Contents

Arthur SalzJoel SpringSonia Nieto and Helen L. JohnsonFlorence Samson and Clive BelfieldPatrick B. JohnsonMikki Malow-Iroff and Michael Benhar and Sonya MartinRichard MeyerMarcia Baghban and Harriet LiMyra Zarnowski and Amie Backner and Liba EngelSusan Kirch and Molly HunterLisa Scott and Angela LovePenny Hammrich and Michelle MyersWilliam AyersSusan OhanianHelen L. Johnson
Dedicationp. vii
Prefacep. ix
Acknowledgmentsp. xiii
Contributorsp. xv
What is Authentic Educational Reform?p. xvii
I Compassionate Conservatism: Current Myths of Educational Reform
1 No Child Left Behind As Political Fraudp. 3
2 The Sociopolitical Context of No Child Left Behind: Hard Times and Courageous Responsesp. 15
II The Impact of Compassionate Conservatism on Educational Policies and Practices
3 The Privatization of America's Schoolsp. 27
4 High-Stakes Testing and No Child Left Behind (NCLB): Conceptual and Empirical Considerationsp. 55
5 Educational Reform and the Child With Disabilitiesp. 71
III Reports from the Field: The Impact of Compassionate Conservatism on Teaching and Learning
6 Leaving Sanity Behind: How Scientific Are the Scientific Phonics Programs?p. 89
7 "I Thought I Was a Professional": Teachers' and Parents' Reactions to NCLB in New York Cityp. 105
8 Whatever Happened to the Rest of the Curriculum?p. 121
9 The Campaign for Fiscal Equityp. 135
10 The Impact of Community on Educational Reformp. 155
11 Equity in the Science Classroomp. 169
IV What Is to Be Done?
12 Educational Reformp. 189
13 In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Actp. 199
Finding the Missing Child in NCLB: Pushing Against the Compassionate Conservative Agendap. 215
Indexp. 227