Schoolhouse Shams
Myths and Misinformation in School Reform

Date Written:  2012-12-27
Publisher:  Rowman & Littlefield
Year Published:  2012
Pages:  230pp   ISBN:  978-161048834
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX18427

Written by a parent and school board member, who first embraced many of the ideas of the modern school reform movement, Schoolhouse Shams lays bare much of the mythology and misinformation that underpin many of the failed school reform policies of the last decade. Many of the top strategies of the highly publicized school reform movement already have been tried out in St. Louis with disastrous results. Along with demonstrating the failure of school reform prescriptions to improve education, the experience of St. Louis demonstrates that the ideological premise of the reform movement, that a focus on providing opportunities for private profit-taking will necessarily improve schools, is both wrong and conflicts with the ideals of democracy, accountability, and justice.

Abstract: 
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Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Sham One: Desegregation Destroyed Schools
Sham Two: Testing Answers Everything
Sham Three: Reading is the Basis of All Learning
Sham Four: Teaching Means Not Worrying About Students Learning
Sham Five: Public Schools Are Too Wasteful
Sham Six: Private is Better
Sham Seven: Shopping is the Answer
Sham Eight: Democracy Ruins Schools
Sham Nine: Justice Has No Place in Education
Sham Ten: It's All About the Children
Bibliography