 Why School Reform Is Failing and What We Need To Do About It
Jerry Wartgow
Rowman & Littlefield Education, December 2007
From the Publisher:
Why School Reform Is Failing and What We Need To Do About It evolved from a review of the educational and managerial theory and history that shaped our contemporary public education system. This theoretical construct is then interpreted through more than forty years of valuable experience acquired by the author while working in the trenches of education reform.
This book's amalgamation of theory and practice is translated into ten lessons learned from attempts to reform and improve public education to date. It provides the perspective of a practitioner as to how and why the unintended consequences of well- intentioned people have hindered, rather than helped, to reform and improve our schools. It calls for us to pause, take a deep breath, and learn from the experiences of the past before launching the latest reform de jour in a frenzied quest to find a silver bullet or quick fix to the many, varied and complex issues that are enmeshed in education reform. More importantly, it presents a roadmap and recommendations for steps that need to be taken to reform school reform so that we can realize meaningful and sustainable improvements in student achievement.
Review:
"People, not rules, make a good school. In this bold book, Jerry Wartgow takes aim at the sacred cows that keep us from restoring the human control needed to breathe life back into America's schools. Wartgow is persuasive in explaining why we need to save schools from the reformers." --Philip K. Howard, attorney and Founder & Chair of Common Good
About the Author:
Jerry Wartgow has over forty years of experience working in the trenches at all levels of education, including nearly thirty years as the president/chief executive officer of large, complex educational institutions and organizations. Most recently (2001-2005), he served as superintendent of Denver Public Schools. He is the founding president and president emeritus of the Colorado Community College System.
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