Failure Up Close

When Jay Greene and Mike McShane asked some great minds in education policy to put their pens to our failures, they created a great success. It is said that we all love the sound of somebody else being wrong, but this book is about all of us. I loved the lack of snark or accusation; this is honest critique of ideas the authors hoped would succeed. Anybody who has contributed to the failures in this book as I have will find it hard not to cringe, but will be grateful for the lessons. -- Lisa Graham Keegan, chief executive officer, Arizona Chamber Foundation; former superintendent, Public Instruction for the State of Arizona Greene and McShane in a smartly-written book invite an educated class of reformers, policymakers, and philanthropists to walk with them to the back of the school line to inhale the aroma of failure. Without relying on conjecture or hyperbole, two of Americas best intellectuals and their colleagues methodically unpack a motley assortment of public polices, programs, and partisan plans to explain how and why success is never guaranteed in school reform. We can learn a lot of lessons from past failures. Reading this book puts us one step closer to the front of the line. -- Gerard Robinson, resident fellow, the American Enterprise Institute; former Virginia Secretary of Education and former Commissioner of Education for the State of Florida Jay Greene and Mike McShane have compiled a powerful assortment of essays addressing the vicissitudes of the education reform era that have led to major changes in policy but arguably marginal impact in practice and outcome. By problematizing the question of failure, Greene and McShane lead us to a new paradigm of change that embraces the complexity of taking well-intended policy from the design stage through implementation all the way to impact. While no politician, policy maker or educator ever wants to fail kids, Greene and McShane show that NCLB, vouchers, VAM, SIG, teacher preparation, technology and philanthropic investments suffer from a disconnect between intention and impact. Wherever you sit on the highly volatile education reform continuum, this book is a must-read for those who actually want to embrace the complexity of public education transformation in order to improve conditions and outcomes for our nations kids. -- Joshua P. Starr Ed.D, CEO of PDK International, former Superintendent of the Montgomery County Public Schools

Jay P. Greene is Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. Greenes current areas of research interest include school choice, culturally enriching field trips, and the effect of schools on non-cognitive and civic values. His research has appeared in academic journals such as Education Finance and Policy and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and in newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post. He is the author of Education Myths and Why America Needs School Choice. Michael Q. McShane is Director of National Research at EdChoice and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the editor of New and Better Schools, the author of Education and Opportunity, and coeditor of Educational Entrepreneurship Today, Teacher Quality 2.0, and Common Core Meets Education Reform. McShanes commentary has been published in the Huffington Post, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and he has been featured in Teachers College Commentary, and Education Next.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments IntroductionJay P. Greene and Michael Q. McShane Chapter 1: The Limits of ExpertiseFrederick M. Hess and Paige Willey Chapter 2: The Failure of Technologies to Transform Traditional Teaching in the Past CenturyLarry Cuban Chapter 3: Teacher Education: Failed Reform and a Missed OpportunityDaniel Willingham Chapter 4: Asking Too Much of Accountability: The Predictable Failure of No Child Left BehindMartin West Chapter 5: School Improvement Grants: Failures in Design and ImplementationAshley Jochim Chapter 6: Test-Based Teacher EvaluationMatthew Di Carlo Chapter 7: The Failure of Private School Vouchers and Tax Credit ScholarshipAnna Egalite Chapter 8: No Excuses Charter Schools: the Good, the Bad, and the Over-Prescribed?Matthew Ladner Chapter 9: Too Big to Fail: Big Bet Philanthropy and Constructive Failure at the Gates FoundationMegan E. Tompkins-Stange ConclusionJay P. Green and Michael Q. McShane Bibliography About the Authors