For many reasons, failure in education reform is rarely admitted. Even though it is incredibly hard work to try and improve the enormous and diverse American education system, because there are political consequences of admitting that a particular effort did not live up to its promises and pressure from philanthropic funders to show success, unsuccessful efforts are often swept under the rug or papered over with public relations efforts that avoid wrestling with the tough realities of educational improvement. This doesn't help anyone. As any educator will tell you, failure is an essential part of learning. Insofar as education reform needs to be a learning movement itself, it has to be able to admit where it has failed and learn from it. Failure Up-Close engages a select group of scholars from across the ideological spectrum to examine particular education reform efforts of recent years that have not succeeded and offer lessons for school and system improvement that can be learned from them. Rather than view failure as negative, this volume looks at failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. In fact, the editors endeavored to find authors that would analyze reforms for which they had some fundamental sympathy. The goal is not to bash particular efforts or castigate their supporters but rather to help those supporters understand how to do what they do better, and ultimately, do better for children.

For many reasons, failure in education reform is rarely admitted. Even though it is incredibly hard work to try and improve the enormous and diverse American education system, because there are political consequences of admitting that a particular effort did not live up to its promises and pressure from philanthropic funders to show success, unsuccessful efforts are often swept under the rug or papered over with public relations efforts that avoid wrestling with the tough realities of educational improvement. This doesn't help anyone. As any educator will tell you, failure is an essential part of learning. Insofar as education reform needs to be a learning movement itself, it has to be able to admit where it has failed and learn from it. Failure Up-Close engages a select group of scholars from across the ideological spectrum to examine particular education reform efforts of recent years that have not succeeded and offer lessons for school and system improvement that can be learned from them. Rather than view failure as negative, this volume looks at failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. In fact, the editors endeavored to find authors that would analyze reforms for which they had some fundamental sympathy. The goal is not to bash particular efforts or castigate their supporters but rather to help those supporters understand how to do what they do better, and ultimately, do better for children.

How can we fix America's floundering public schools? Conventional wisdom says that schools and teachers need a lot more money, that poor and immigrant children can't do as well as most American kids, that high-stakes tests just produce teaching to the test, and that vouchers do little to help students while undermining our democracy. But what if the conventional wisdom is wrong? Jay Greene provocatively shows that much of what people believe about education policy is little more than a series of myths advanced by the special interest groups dominating public education.

Over the last few years, Orthodox Jewish private schools, also known as yeshivas, have been under fire by a group of activists known as Young Advocates for Fair Education, run by several yeshiva graduates, who have criticized them for providing an inadequate secular education. At the heart of the yeshiva controversy lies two important interests in education: the right of the parent to choose an appropriate education, which may include values-laden religious education, and the right of each child to receive an appropriate education, as guaranteed by the state. These interests raise further questions. If preference is given to the former, how much freedom should be given to a parent in choosing an appropriate education? If the latter, how does the state define what constitutes an appropriate education or measure the extent to which an appropriate education has been achieved? And when can-or must-the state override the wishes of parents? The purpose of this book is to explore these difficult questions.

Over the last few years, Orthodox Jewish private schools, also known as yeshivas, have been under fire by a group of activists known as Young Advocates for Fair Education, run by several yeshiva graduates, who have criticized them for providing an inadequate secular education. At the heart of the yeshiva controversy lies two important interests in education: the right of the parent to choose an appropriate education, which may include values-laden religious education, and the right of each child to receive an appropriate education, as guaranteed by the state. These interests raise further questions. If preference is given to the former, how much freedom should be given to a parent in choosing an appropriate education? If the latter, how does the state define what constitutes an appropriate education or measure the extent to which an appropriate education has been achieved? And when can-or must-the state override the wishes of parents? The purpose of this book is to explore these difficult questions.