Customer Reviews

POISONED APPLE: THE BELL-CURVE CRISIS AND HOW OUR SCHOOLS CREATE MEDIOCRITY AND FAILURE

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In Japan there is a relatively simple educational philosophy; through hard work all students can succeed in challenging subject matter
Ms. Wallace and Mr. graves present a compelling point that many American schools have established an assessment system that compares students to the average in district or in state test-taker based on the results of a bell shaped curve
The authors compare this to the teaching of high standards and benchmarks or the now politically incorrect term, outcomes, (OBE)
In order to successfully reach such goals children must progress at a pace independent of age, (grade).

Although the school district that I am affiliated with, (school trustee), is relatively successful in comparison to the North Carolina district that Superintendent Wallace attempts to reform, there are far to many students who are both held back as they await their class to advance or find themselves in high school despite suspect grades
Too often trustees don't know the questions to ask in order to solve problems
"Poisoned Apple" is written by "friends" of education and despite the title, the book leaves me with a feeling of hope
I found it in my county public library, (Kalispell, Montana), and I am extremely disheartened to discover that it is out of print, (I will call the publisher).

As a university professor, I have been teaching leadership and learning for the past eight years. Throughout that time, Wallace's book has been required reading in our programs at every level of graduate study. It represents a microcosm of the broader community within which schools must exist. In a well-written case study, Wallace has presented a number of the problems faced by public schools and potential solutions that were explored under her leadership in Vance Co, North Carolina. Both success and failure are presented for everyone to read. She has exposed her actions, for better and for worse, for her readers to evaluate. This is a comprehensive description of what happens in a challenging community when school reform is attempted. This book should be required reading for every school administrator, school-board member, and professor of education, not to mention anyone else interested in improving the quality of schools. The book simply must be reprinted or published in a revised form with a follow-up report of what has happened in Vance Co., NC, in subsequent years.

The insidious pervasiveness of Bell Curve practices is truly the central cause of ongoing decline of public schooling in America--forcing bell curve comparisons among same-age children through grade placement and standardized testing rather than simply measuring each child's growth along a continuum of progress regardless of age. It is no wonder that thousands of parents are turning to homeschooling and private education of their children, and we can expect this trend to continue.

Wallace and Graves clearly hit the nail on the head, but it is already too late to combat such heavily entrenched bell curve practices. The demise of American schools is too far gone. The lucrative testing and textbook industries will continue to protect their profit margins, and politicians will continue to point to standardized testing as the way to compare schools and states. And, in the best interest of their children, caring parents will continue to seek better ways to educate their children rather than subject them to the tyranny of same-age bell curve comparisons in public schools. Sadly and irretrievably, this horse left the barn a long time ago.

I was sadly disappointed after reading this book. The authors blame everything wrong in education on an oversimplification of the bell curve. Furthermore, the blame is usally placed on the teacher from their standpoint, when teachers have little control over who is in their classroom.

The authors do have great ideas, such as ungrading the school system and multi-age classes. However, the book was so full of contradictions and questionable "facts" that it is hard to take it seriously. I recently read "Measuring Up" by Daniel Koretz and found so many flaws in the authors logic whenever dealing with scores, assessment, and the bell curve. Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells UsI suggest reading "Measuring U"p instead of "Poisoned Apple".

I read "Poisoned Apple" carefully because education is my full time study. This largely anecdotal book is a description of modern reform ideas in the setting of reform efforts by Betty Wallace in North Carolina. Reformers and reform ideas are overly praised in my judgment while the very real problems of reform are too often blamed on short sighted opponents. True believers in recent versions of education reform will find here confirmation of their views. More dispassionate readers will want to read more widely