Additional information
by Richard G. Neal (Author)
Large segments of the American public school system have been failing for decades, and the pace of failure is accelerating - thanks largely to the entrenched education establishment and teacher unions. This book provides a panoramic view of these failures, as well as an analysis of the failed attempts to improve public education. The author brings to bear his extensive experiences within the government school system to expose how public education, for millions of students, has been a failure by every meaningful measure. Achievement, as measured by test scores, has been stagnant for years. The student dropout rate remains shockingly high. Many high school graduates are not prepared either for continuing education or meaningful employment. Hordes of unassimilated immigrants are clogging the education process for many of their classmates. Student misbehavior continues unabated. Millions of students desert the public schools yearly for home-schooling and other more valuable education experiences. All of the politically correct and conventional attempts to save the failing public schools have failed. Dumping more money on problems seems to create more problems. Federal "aid" has been unproductive and inserted the federal government further into public education without any constitutional authority. The constant increases in teacher salaries based on the universal "salary grid" have had no positive impact on student learning. Billions of dollars have been spent on reduction in class size with no benefit to education. The requirements for teacher certification have become more demanding, but with little benefit, if any, on student learning. School districts and schools have grown bigger in a futile attempt to improve education, causing more harm than good. While the public thinks that if a school is "accredited" it must be good, in reality, school accreditation is nothing more than certification of a failed system. After reading this encyclopedia of failed attempts to st
