Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools [Paperback]

Tony Wagner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

This book provides a guide for a long-overdue public dialogue about why and how we need to reinvent our nation's schools. How has the world changed for our children; what do all students need to know in light of these changes; how do we hold students and schools accountable for results; what do good schools look like; and what must leaders do to create more of these schools? These are some of the questions that drive this book. The answers emerging to these questions may surprise many. The most successful public schools of the 21st century look a lot more like our 19th century village schools than our current factory model of schooling. This book describes these "new village schools" that have been created in the last decade and suggests that they are a prototype for the schools of the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Decades of school reform efforts have led only to the consensus that American education needs improvement. The problem, Wagner argues, is that people are confused about what's really wrong with public schools. Worse, many of the accountability systems established in the last five years to improve schools are having the opposite effect. The standards movement, once touted as the cure-all for failing schools, "has degenerated into the `standardized testing movement,' " in which teachers teach to the test, students become scores, and everyone feels less motivation to learn and achieve. Inadequate attention gets paid to the development of the complex reasoning and problem-solving abilities necessary in a rapidly changing world or to the citizenship skills needed in a pluralistic society. And perhaps most troubling, high stakes testing attached to grade retention has led to increased dropout rates, especially among minorities. Wagner, a codirector of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, may decry the same old demon, but he also offers a number of solutions that move the dialogue beyond tired debates. He favors accountability systems that focus on what students can do with their knowledge, rather than what they can remember for a test; localized authority that holds teachers and administrators accountable for student learning, but allows them choice in curriculum and methodology; and smaller schools, where teachers and students know each other and children feel valued. None of these ideas is revolutionary; each has merit in the struggle to make schools places of genuine, relevant learning.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

What's really wrong with America's schools? In this engaging, readable study, Wagner taught for the past several years as part of the Harvard Institute for School Leadership and as a "performance coach" for local school leaders hoping to implement effective programs of reform. Describing the prevailing model of public education as "obsolete," Wagner poses a number of critical questions: What should all high school graduates know? What are the best models for assessing student learning and for holding teachers and schools accountable? How do we motivate students (and teachers) to achieve? What should "schools of the future" look like? And what kind of leadership is necessary to meet the goals of a "reinvented" school system? Wagner's description of the problems facing our students, teachers, and administrators is cogent, his criticism of the current environment of high-stakes testing is provocative, and his description of "the new village school" draws effectively on the already popular work of reformers such as Deborah Meier (The Power of Their Ideas, LJ 4/15/95) and Ted Sizer (Horace's Hope, LJ 8/96). Recommended for all libraries. Scott Walter, Washington State Univ., Pullman
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415927625
• ISBN-13: 978-0415927628
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Glad I waded through the pedagogic pap, August 12, 2002

By 

Graham H. Seibert (Kiev, Ukraine) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools (Hardcover)

After the de rigeur citations of every great thinker from Einstein to Jean Piaget, Wagner finally gets on with letting us know what he thinks. His own thoughts are good enough that he didn't need to lean on current heavies from Harvard or big names from bygone eras.

His point is that standardized tests aren't the answer, but before we deal with them we need to focus on the problem they address. Are kids getting what they need out of school? What can and should be expected from them? Are schools organized optimally to deliver education?

His assessment of the need: Kids need the basics -- reading, writing and arithmetic. Today's kids need a richer dose of the following: 1) exposure to adults, along with understanding and approval; 2) ability to work in teams; 3) training in citizenship. He relates the need to the labor marketplace in which workers increasingly need to work with and exchange ideas. He says that what they need is "Emotional Intelligence," one of those trendy concepts that has so swept the pedagogues that the latest evidence of my fossil status my 13-year-old has dug up is a lack of "EQ." However trendy, it remains true that kids need to be socialized, though I can't imagine it ever being unimporant.

Wagner recognizes that standard tests do not measure kids' individuality. They learn differently. They have different abilities to learn. Furthermore, teachers aren't robots. Different teachers have differing approaches. He recommends that parents have the freedom to choose schools that are appropriate to the needs of their children. He provides strong evidence that it can be done within the context of a public school system.

One of the strongest points Wagner makes is that a teacher's effectiveness is related to the amount of respect they get from their employer and the extent to which they can choose their own teaching style and materials. I know this first hand as a private school trustee, parent and substitute teacher. Teachers want to teach. They are passionate about it when the materials are their own, when they can talk with collegues about the best ways to teach, to integrate curriculum, to reach a certain kid, and so on. The passion dies when they are told that all 10th graders in California will cover pages 38-50 of Silas Marner on October 15.

Wagner's best point goes to organization. State school superintendents and elected boards of education know more about politics than they do education. Schools need to be small (400 kids or less), largely autonomous (set their own curriculum, choose their own materials), and supported by parents (free to choose which among several public schools best suits their children's needs). Parents who have a say in the school will become involved. Teachers who see the same kids over a period of years, and see maybe 40 instead of 150 different faces over the course of a day, will know more about those kids and be better able to help them.

Wagner cites a lot of evidence that smaller schools do not cost more than big ones. Classes may be smaller, but the need for security, counseling and other types of specialists decreases when teachers and administrators know the kids personally. As private school parents already know.

Good going, Tony. Speak with your own voice instead of borrowing those of other experts and I'd give you five stars. People should be citing you.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a load of crap., February 8, 2008

By 

John Doe (Somewhere in New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools (Paperback)

I approached "Making the Grade" with an open mind, only to finish the book in disgust. The so-called future model, Central Park East High School of NYC, is now in a disarray due to lack of achievement and failing test scores despite the fact that the school is earnestly combating the dilemma of woeful public school education. Currently, the graduation rate of the school is 43.5%. Wow, excuse me if I am incredibly underwhelmed. Sure, those "New Village Schools" will work in areas where students come from upper-middle class families and are predominately white. Yes, they can turn down students with "special needs" such as deafness, mental retardation, autism, blindness, etc. for the fear of spending unnecessary amount of money for support, staff, etc. So, they are dumped into public schools aka "dumping grounds." So what happens? Private schools and charter schools look better and achieve more than public schools. Is that so hard to conceive? Get the idea, huh? Let me repeat this...private and charter schools enroll those who are bright and able enough to do well in academics...thus resulting in a very negatively skewed outcomes (think of the bell curve but this time the mountain is moved forward to the right). I pretty much agree with the problems outlined in the book, and I didn't appreciate the author's way of pulling out examples. He begins with a line, before going into either anecdotal or matter-of-factly mode, by: "A student who went to an M.I.T. summer camp..." or "Take this school from New Jersey, an elite and one of the best schools in the state..." or "A suburb school from Hartford, Connecticut..." or "Harvard's so-so and so-so from M.I.T. summarize that..." or "Corporate CEOs like..." or "Howard Gardner describes experiments with students from elite universities..." or "Former Havard University president noted that..." or "The Massachusetts State School Board's decision..." or "Equally important to Ivy League admissions..." or "...one of the leading public high schools in New England..." It goes on and on and on throughout the book. Seriously, this book is tailor-made for audience who lives in New England states and has absolutely no relevance to anybody else outside of the realm. When I read the requirements of...*shuddering and thinking of Nazi Germany* "New School Village," all I could say to myself is, "Thank goodness I graduated from a normal public school." I am sure it sounds highly ambitious and all, but it's not going to work. The bottom line is: basic skills and advanced skills, through memorization and understanding, are what decide the well-rounded student. Without high level of reading, writing, and mathematics skills, the student is practically useless to companies once the s/he graduates from a high school unless we are talking about menial jobs. Yes, the book makes a mention of those necessary skills but mocks the usefulness of higher mathematics. That's where the argument dies. Of course, advanced mathematics is almost useless all the time, but he fails to see the point. The practice and the art of mastering mathematics leads to something else that is the ultimate of any student: the promotion of logical reasoning and the art of solving problems. The more math problems applied, the greater the chance walls will crumble. In what the book was saying to me, it was, "Oh...don't worry about it...all you need to know is: statistics, the basic idea of mean/mode/median, times table...also, how to budget bills." Ha...budget...what a jest. Those kids graduating from "New Village Schools," I would love to give my own math test with ordinarily simple problems and wouldn't be all that surprised if they failed the test. Yeah, the mastery of reading is always accomplished by going to libraries and reading voluminous of books. There is no substitute for that. Yet, right there, motivation (or shall I say, guidance) is lacking. That is the problem with many public schools. Guide the students, breed motivation, and reinforce the fundamental characteristics are what teachers should do in order to mold their students. Hard work, dredging through the mud, is what it takes. Sadly, not all know the meaning of "hard work." "Making the Grade" falls short because the book aims at solutions in ideal places. Surely, this man has never been to problematic, failing schools like Camden High School of Camden, New Jersey. I would love to pay the admission price to see if the author would use the available resources (ah ah...no cheating...don't ask for more money from the state) and turn that school around just like how Joe Clark did for Eastside High (think of the movie "Lean on Me" with Morgan Freeman). Although I am aware that the author had stated the impossibility of turning around urban schools, the author forgets the notion that there are schools like Camden in suburb or rural areas. The author keeps mentioning the foundation of Bill Gates too many times. Are you aware that Bill Gates went to one of the most elite schools in the nation and came from extremely wealthy family whose father was the present of a national bank? Why am I bringing this up? I guess it's because of the fact that Bill Gates hadn't experienced poverty and gone to improverished schools probably just like the author did. How is it possible this author would dare to write a book, aiming for solutions to a national problem, yet be totally oblivious of the serious issues facing children in less privileged settings? I am talking about students coming from parents who use drugs, abusive backgrounds, sexually molested upbringings, single parent (who work 40 to 70 hours per week) houses, and so on. Honestly, I don't know the solutions to the problem except for the fact that everybody needs to work together and face the problems and coming up with the solutions. Dang it, this author sucks, and the book sucks. Education at public school worked for me, and I worked hard to succeed. The others who didn't have themselves to blame. Of the population with special needs, I share my sympathy with them for not getting the best of services from public schools regardless of period of time they were in, and I was in the same situation as they.