No Remedy Left Behind: Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB [Paperback]

Frederick Hess (Author), Chester, Jr. Finn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2007

As the reauthorization of the nation’s seminal education law—the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)—rapidly approaches, a team of respected education scholars and analysts assess how NCLB’s interventions for poorly-performing schools are actually working. Editors Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute and Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation pull no punches. In No Remedy Left Behind, seventeen education experts rigorously assess—across the nation’s states and school districts—the law’s public school choice requirement (which offers students enrolled in schools in need of improvement the opportunity to attend another school), its complex supplemental educational services provision (that is, free tutoring services offered to low-income students who attend failing schools), and its controversial “restructuring” mandate (which forces low-performing schools to plan and implement significant reforms). Throughout the volume, contributors inform us whether big-city school districts are complying with the law, whether low-performing schools are informing parents of their options, and whether reported problems are due to flawed federal implementation or a fundamentally flawed statute.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI. Chester Finn is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI.

Chester Finn is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Aei Press; 1 edition (August 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844742554
• ISBN-13: 978-0844742557
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good source of information about the realities of NCLB and what can be done to improve it, March 3, 2008

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: No Remedy Left Behind: Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB (Paperback)

Let me say right up front that I think the Federal Government has no Constitutional mandate for being involved in education. Before the 1960s everyone knew that and the reason it stepped in then was twofold. First, to use federal funds as a lever to integrate schools. If you don't follow our policies for integration you don't get the "free" money from Washington. In reality, the Federal Government was soaking up more and more of the nation's money to use for its programs to fix society and the states and local governments had a hard time raising money when competing with the power of the federal government. So, the second reason was to make the States dependent on the Feds for more and more in order to get their increasing social agenda through. This was bad government then and it is bad government now.

However, given the national power of teacher's unions and their stranglehold not only on public education, but also in preventing real educational reforms, it may require Federal power to create actual reform. However, I doubt the Feds have the political will to actually reform education. Too many in Congress are dependent on the education unions to move against their narrow interests.

The No Child Left Behind act was George W. Bush's attempt at creating accountability in schools. Too many schools aren't teaching students effectively. This not only wastes taxpayer money, it damages lives and creates ongoing social problems for society. This book takes a close look at the way the program has been implemented, what is working, and what is not working. For example, most states are making progress in monitoring and the Adequate Yearly Progress standard. However, they get to define what it means, which is quite odd. Nor are states making effective efforts to notify parents of children in failing schools that they can switch to other schools. Frankly, other schools don't want these students because their poor performance will likely drag down their ratings. Sad.

This very useful book has an introduction that lays out the NCLB as it was meant to be and what is actually happening in the states. The books conclusion provides the authors' recommendations for improving NCLB. The bulk of the book consists of three parts. Part 1 has four chapters that look at the uneven implementation of the act, how the big city schools are indeed seeing some benefits from NCLB, the problems with Supplemental Educational Services, and some of the paradoxes that exist in trying to implement the program (for example, how do you send kids to better performing schools when there aren't enough of them to go around).

Part 2 is a fascinating look at four states and their implementation of NCLB. We get a tour of the ways the act is being implemented, misapplied, and ignored in California, New Jersey, Colorado, and Michigan. Part 3 looks at the effects on school districts in rural Kentucky and in Miami-Dade County in Florida. Part 4 Looks at remedies in four restructured schools and the talk of district accountability versus the reality.

This is a very complex issue. Getting your arms around what is actually being attempted, the real efforts and implementation, and the overall effects will require a real effort on your part. You won't get a good picture from those who have narrow interests against the program or those who want to pretend everything is just fine. NCLB is having effects, some good - some bad, but the point is improving schools in order to educate children properly. I don't think anyone can say that we are doing a good job of educating all of our children. My own view is that even in districts with great scores and high percentages of graduates moving on to college we are mis-educating too many of our students. We are letting them waste their valuable and expensive years in K-12 not learning what they should and frittering time away on things that will not help them compete as adults trying to find a place for themselves in the world.

A good book with valuable information on this subject no matter where you come down on NCLB. Don't let the politicos sucker you into being simplistically for or against it and letting them carry on as they wish. There is too much at stake.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI