Read These Books!

My goal is to spread the word on education reform issues. As far as literature, I don't need to come up with new material -- the books are already out there.

I highly recommend two books. The first is "Education Myths" by Jay Greene. The subtitle says it all: "What Special Interest Groups Want You to Believe about Our Schools -- And Why It Isn't So". Read this book to get a clear outline of the basic myths out there along with a summary of the research and reasoning pertaining to each one. Here is an Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0742549771/qid=1130780614/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1451554-3923100?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


The second book is "Cheating Our Kids" by Joe Williams. This book is more anecdotal. It tells some very powerful stories about various scandals in our system. I don't love the author's suggestions for action (I think there are better paths), but I think he does a great job of illustrating the problems. Here is an Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140396839X/qid=1130781019/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1451554-3923100?v=glance&s=books

The purpose of this blog is to educate and convince you on the merits of public school education reform. For me, education reform includes:

1. Increasing the amount of choice parents have with respect to selecting schools for their kids. Both vouchers and charter schools are excellent solutions for this problem.

2. Making principals accountable for school performance while giving them the authority to manage schools effectively.

3. Reducing or eliminating excessive and counterproductive teacher licensure requirements.

4. Reducing or eliminating excessive focus on teacher seniority with respect to pay, placements, etc.

5. Reducing or eliminating teacher tenure.

6. Decreasing the amount and strength of work rules imposed on the system by the teachers' unions.