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Failure : The Federal Miseducation of America's Children by Vicki E. Alger (2016, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherIndependent Institute, T.H.E.

ISBN-101598132121

ISBN-139781598132120

eBay Product ID (ePID)211280416

Product Key Features

Number of Pages496 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameFailure : the Federal Miseducation of America's Children

Publication Year2016

SubjectEducational Policy & Reform / Federal Legislation, History, Aims & Objectives, American Government / National, Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects

TypeTextbook

AuthorVicki E. Alger

Subject AreaPolitical Science, Education

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.5 in

Item Weight32.9 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2014-049002

ReviewsVicki Alger's Failure is a timely and well-researched tour de force that should be read by anyone interested in promoting genuine educational reform in America. After delineating the long history of educational policy in America, Alger focuses on the ineluctable growth of federal intervention in education policy since the Civil War. This intervention has fallen far short of attaining pedagogical improvement. And the regulatory creep it has wrought has included political entanglements and policy mischief wrought by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), established in 1979--serving as yet another example of the classic regulatory triangle of politicians, bureaucracy, and interest groups (e.g., NEA and teachers' unions) that too often serves the self-interest of stakeholders rather than the public interest in educational attainment. Calling for the 'strategic dismantling' of ED, Alger provides constructive examples of decentralization in other developed countries and in U.S. history.

IllustratedYes

SynopsisFor nearly 100 years the federal government left education almost entirely in the hands of the citizenry and state and local governments. But in 1979, with the creation of the US Department of Education, a sprawling bureaucracy with 153 programs, 5,000 employees, and an annual budget of approximately $70 billion, the federal government intruded itself into almost every area of K-12 and higher education. What caused this dramatic transformation? Has it improved student performance? And how can we best ensure that America's students will get the education they need for thriving in an increasingly competitive, global economy? Education policy expert Vicki E. Alger shows that federal involvement in education has been an epic failure--a failure of programs, a fiscal failure, and a failure with educators, parents, and students. Alger assesses, identifies, and articulates the best strategy for success--namely, decentralizing education policy by ending federal involvement, returning power to state and local governments, and implementing parental choice for the citizenry. No matter where you stand on issues such as Common Core, school vouchers, federal mandates, or state sovereignty, Failure will provide insight and inspiration needed for bold solutions to our educational challenges. Alger takes up all of these issues and questions in Failure: The Federal Miseducation of America's Children , an in-depth look at federal education policy that will enlighten and inspire reform to truly meet student needs, cut out bureaucracy, and foster flexibility and choice., The relationship between the US federal government, states, and parents with regard to education is increasingly dysfunctional. Parental control over their children's education has gained impressive momentum in recent years at the state level. Meanwhile, states have been increasingly willing to relinquish sovereignty over education in exchange for more federal dollars. Failure brings clarity to these issues., A comprehensive account and frank assessment of federal involvement in education is long overdue. Education policy expert Vicki E. Alger remedies this deficiency with her book, Failure: The Federal Miseducation of America's Children. As its title indicates, Failure makes no effort to sugar coat its findings: Created in 1979, after a lobbying campaign that spanned generations, the Department of Education has failed to live up to its promises. Federal involvement--whether related to testing, funding, or academic curricula--has failed to abide by the Constitution's implication that education must remain the domain only of state and local governments and private institutions. Most of all, the central government's pervasive meddling in education has failed America's school children and their parents. Education policy has long been mired in controversies, often with opposing sides missing the mark. Failure helps us step back from the skirmish du jour and redirects our focus to the big picture, showing us what's gone wrong over the decades and the institutional causes of these failures. It also offers a bold blueprint for returning the federal government to its constitutional role and for cultivating an educational system that meets the needs of students and parents, rather than bureaucrats. Concerned citizens of every stripe will benefit from Failure 's history of federal education policy, its brutally honest report card for the Department of Education, its look at education systems across the globe, and its ambitious policy recommendations. Failure might even succeed in reframing the way the federal education establishment thinks about education policy.

LC Classification NumberLB2807.M87 2015