No Remedy Left Behind Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB

by Hess, Frederick; Finn, Chester, Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780844742557
• ISBN10: 0844742554
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-24
• Publisher: Aei Press
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI.

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

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
The Big Picture	p. 15
NCLB in the States: Fragmented Governance, Uneven Implementation	p. 17
America's Great City Schools: Moving in the Right Direction	p. 43
The Political Economy of Supplemental Educational Services	p. 66
The Problem With "Implementation is the Problem"	p. 96
Remedies in the States	p. 119
California: Does the Golden State Deserve a Gold Star?	p. 121
New Jersey: Equity Meets Accountability	p. 153
Colorado: The Misapplication of Federal Power	p. 179
Michigan: Over the First Hurdle	p. 202
Remedies in the Districts	p. 223
Rural Kentucky Districts: "Do-It-Yourself" School Improvement	p. 225
Miami-Dade County: Trouble in Choice Paradise	p. 244
Restructuring Districts and Schools	p. 265
Remedies in Action: Four "Restructured" Schools	p. 267
District Accountability: More Bark Than Bite?	p. 290
Conclusion: Can This Law Be Fixed? A Hard Look at the NCLB Remedies	p. 309
Notes	p. 331
About the Authors	p. 373
Index	p. 37
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