Jack Schneider is the Robert A. Oden Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Liberal Arts. He teaches in the Educational Studies Department at Carleton College.
"A lucid, balanced, and perceptive treatment of recent education
reforms by an able historian who both tells a compelling story and
draws valuable lessons from it."
--Chester E. Finn Jr., Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, and
President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
"Do Americans disagree about how to improve their schools? Of
course. But as Jack Schneider shows in this smart little book, they
disagree much less than they used to. In an era of sharp political
polarization, we have developed a remarkable consensus about
educational reform. Schneider's brisk history will help us to
understand the origins of our contemporary moment--and, even
better, to take account of its costs. Too much harmony can be a
very bad thing, if it drowns out the dissonant chords that we all
need to hear."
--Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History and Education, NYU, and
President, History of Education Society
"Jack Schneider has penned a tough-minded, no-nonsense look at the
banal nature of so much contemporary education reform. Taking dead
aim at the vacuous notion of 'excellence for all, ' Schneider makes
clear how wishful thinking and muddy reasoning have compromised
school improvement efforts. Considering the small schools push,
Teach For America, and Advanced Placement curriculum, Schneider has
written a book that's a much-needed reminder of the false promise
of silver bullets and vapid sentiment. This is a book that
educators, parents, and policymakers need to read-- and a reminder
why serious reformers had better be sure to eat their
Wheaties."
--Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies, American
Enterprise Institute, and author of Common Sense School Reform
"Jack Schneider's Excellence for All provides a lucid and
compelling survey of education reform that underlines how hard it
is to make separate schools for rich and poor work. Heroic efforts
to fix high poverty schools by making them smaller, providing them
highly educated young teachers, and giving them access to a
rigorous AP curriculum all ran up against the reality that
economically isolated schools will never be equal."
-- Richard D. Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation,
and author of Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over
Schools, Unions, Race and Democracy
"Schneider offers a well-written historical account of the
emergence of the thinking and practice guiding curent educational
reform efforts--which he dubs the 'excellence for all' era. [...]
Recommended."
--Choice
"Schneider's careful observations about this era and its reformers
will provide readers with both a better understanding of why some
recent reform initiatives were adopted as well as a deeper
understanding of how this era and its rhetoric continues to shape
education reform efforts and their likelihood of success."
--History of Education Quarterly
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