Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The basic purpose of this book is to help policy makers at all levels of government understand that (1) widespread adolescent under-achievement is not susceptible to solution by educational interventions no matter how much money is allocated to public education; and (2) there are unidentified educational and civic costs to focusing on low achievement and to expecting public institutions of education (for K-12 and college) to solve a growing social problem. Many policy makers seem to think (1) that all Hispanic and African American students are low achievers even though only 25 percent of this country's 15 year-olds are designated by tests as low achievers and Hispanic and African American children constitute 41% of our public school population; (2) that most children in low-income families are Hispanic or African American even though more "white" children are; or (3) that teachers/schools are the cause of low achievement. Educational institutions still cannot solve a non-education-caused problem and haven't done so for over 50 years despite all the public and private money that has been allocated.
Synopsis
This book is about this country's efforts to educate and raise the achievement level of large numbers of low-achieving students.