Fatigued by School Reform

After a half-a-century of school reform, a majority of Americans consider the public schools as worse today than when they attended school. Those reforms missed the mark because they were not focused on the backgrounds of the students’ parents--by far the most important indicator of students’ progress in school. The importance of parents was documented by the Coleman Report more than 50 years ago.School reform must be continued but re-directed to over-come the power of low parental socio-economic status. The best way to improve the schools is to create a better, fairer economy providing parents with good jobs and decent wages. In the meantime, good pre-school, after-school, and other aids are needed to help students from low income families.Teacher quality, although not as influential as the parents’ backgrounds, is the second most significant indicator of student success. Teachers, like parents, have not been the focus of the attention their importance deserves. In particular, teachers should be fairly paid, and their verbal and cognitive skills improved. The Coleman Report again documented the importance of those skills more than half-a-century ago.Instead, money, time, and effort have been spent on reforms that won’t bring about great improvement because they did not address adequately those two important factors.

This clear-eyed, no-nonsense book contends that the past 50 years of education reform initiatives have managed to miss the most important part of the puzzle: Bringing parents and teachers together to support children's success in school. Parents and teachers have been pushed aside or blamed, instead of receiving resources to build close and effective partnerships. Jack is an experienced hand at developing education policy and we would do well to heed his advice., Fatigued by Reform, Jack Jennings’ latest book, gives you an intriguing front-row view of how federal policymakers ignored the famous “Coleman Report” in favor of making schools jump through serial hoops of reform. They promoted equity, choice, standards, and tests—anything, in short, that let them ignore poverty and the disintegration of communities around the schools. Written in clear, no-nonsense prose by a legendary insider in the U.S. House of Representatives, Fatigued by Reform is a “must read” for all interested in school policymaking., In Fatigued by Reform, Jennings brings a refreshing and much needed perspective on how the last half-century of major K-12 education reform efforts have impacted actual results, not just rhetorical claims, with actual evidence to support his conclusions. Based on his decades of experience in the national policy arena, Jennings adds much needed credibility to his analysis. Based on all of this, the underlying question is ‘Where do we go from here.’ Hopefully, this analysis will force the policy community to return to the key issues of teachers and teaching and how we move forward to close the equity gap., Jack Jennings does a masterful job in exploring five decades of federal education policy and the impact on our public schools. Using a seminal research study to support his recommendations, Jack Jennings eloquently reminds policy makers of the need to address social and economic policy to support school improvement as well. As someone who has worked in public education for 39 years, I appreciate Mr. Jennings’ candor and insightful recommendations! I sincerely hope this book generates a much-needed conversation to support public education in the United States!, Fatigued by School Reform is a must read for policymakers, education leaders, and academics. However, it is so well-written and engaging, it would be thoroughly enjoyed by other audiences including classroom teachers and parents.

Jack Jennings was the foremost education expert in Congress for 27 years. Then, he established and led for 17 years a highly regarded national think tank centered on improving public education.