America's Failing Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind [Paperback]

W. James Popham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0415951283 | ISBN-13: 978-0415951289 | Edition: New Ed

No Child Left Behind, the legislation signed into law by President Bush in January 2002, is a hugely new important development in the American education. These new laws call for substantially expanded testing, stringent accountablity and annual school-focused report cards at the state, district and school levels. Despite the enormous reach of these new developments, few people actually understand them. This book makes these laws and their implications clear for teachers, students and parents alike. It breaks down the legislation and its effects into easily understood parts, and details key new measures such as standardized testing. There are virtually no full length studies of these new laws, despite their prevalence in all areas of education and debate. W. James popham sets this record straight, delivering the information and analysis crucial to understanding them and their place in America today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Popham, a nationally recognized expert on educational testing, reveals what he says are the potentially devastating effects that the "No Child Left Behind" act may have on America’s public schools. In a compelling, if occasionally dry argument, the author warns that this new education legislation will drive many states to inadvertently set up their "school’s teachers for near-certain failure" in meeting the reform’s unusually restrictive provisions. He praises national standardized tests for correctly fulfilling their original function—to rate students’ academic achievement—but writes that the tests inadequately measure teachers and schools and "were never intended to be used to evaluate them, and they just can’t do that properly." Instead, the school report cards will make it increasingly difficult to distinguish between truly "failing" schools and those that simply failed to conform to the legislation. He predicts that overwhelming failure rates for schools all over the country will eventually push lawmakers to revise the legislation. In the meantime though, he fears "thousands of children will be educationally marred, perhaps permanently" while the regulations remain in place. It’s impossible to know yet if Popham’s prediction will prove true, but when states release the first report cards to parents this June, many readers will want to take further steps to understand the way their local schools are now evaluated—and, more importantly, how to improve them both on paper and in the classroom. For those parents, educators and other concerned citizens, Popham closes his argument with a galvanizing call to get involved in how their states implement the new rules.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Popham, an expert on educational testing, explains the implications of the controversial No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy. The law calling for expanded student testing and stricter accountability standards, tying federal funds for disadvantaged children to school performance, has called into question the ways we measure the success or failure of schools. In part 1, Popham details the provisions of the law, its requirements, sanctions that can be taken against schools that fail, and the measurements for progress that will cause many schools to be undeservedly labeled as failing. In part 2, Popham looks at the educational tests that are behind NCLB and other school-reform efforts and how the reliance on tests has actually eroded the quality of education, even as teachers and schools react to pressure to improve student performance on tests. In the final section, he examines how parents can evaluate the intangible factors that go into school quality that cannot be measured by tests. This is a valuable resource for parents and teachers struggling to understand the new school-reform policy. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; New Ed edition (May 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415951283
• ISBN-13: 978-0415951289
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Popham has spent the bulk of his educational career as a teacher. Most of his teaching took place at UCLA where, for nearly 20 years, he taught courses in instructional methods as well as courses in evaluation and measurement. Because he was aware of the perishability of professors who fail to publish, he spent his non-teaching hours affixing words to paper. A summary of his publications can be found in a 44-page, single-spaced vita. Although his books are filled with whimsy, the vita is really dull reading. Most recently, Dr. Popham was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are America's Schools Really Failing?, September 18, 2004

By 

Walt Gardner (Los Angeles CA (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Failing Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind (Hardcover)

W. James Popham has written the authoritative guide to understanding the controversial No Child Left Behind Act. He subtitles the book "How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind," but he goes beyond his mission by shining a sorely needed spotlight into the esoteric world of assessment in terms lay readers can grasp. In so doing, he explodes the myths surrounding the accountability movement that is affecting all stakeholders in public schools.

It's hard to imagine a more timely volume, given the far-reaching implications of NCLB and the media's inability to pierce the self-serving rhetoric from vested interests of all parties. Popham's impressive background in assessment makes this book a badly needed corrective.

Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He writes frequently on education.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What it means for a school to be declared "failing", July 5, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Failing Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind (Hardcover)

America's "Failing" Schools: How Parents And Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind by education testing expert W. James Popham focuses upon providing parents and classroom teachers with clear, precise explanations of the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" doctrine and the implications this policy has for standardized testing, as well as what it means for a school to be declared "failing", and concrete suggestions for what can be done in response to such a school (and school district) condition. America's "Failing" Schools is timely and welcome reading which is especially commended to the attention of concerned parents, classroom teachers, school administrators, citizen groups like the PTA, and governmental policy makers on the state and federal level in the field of K-12 public education.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Failing Schools or Failing Law?, September 19, 2004

By 

L. Martin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America's Failing Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind (Hardcover)

James Popham's book "America's 'Failing' Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No Child Left Behind" is an up front and simply written piece that argues why the No Child Left Behind Act is actually hurting our students and schools instead of helping them. Popham explains how school report cards are not an accurate portrayal of a school's credibility, just as standardized tests are not a fair judgment of a student's abilities. He goes on to challenge both parents and teachers alike to speak up against this unfair assessment and demand better tests and more indicators to determine the educational health of our nation's students and schools. Popham's book clarified all questions I had regarding the No Child Left Behind Act as well as broadened my outlook on the negative effects standardized testing has on our country. Although his book contains some bias, he supports his claims and (as a teacher himself) has the credibility to speak his mind.