Improving the Odds

Improving the Odds: Raising the Class is a book aimed at legislators, school administrators, home school advocates, and college and university professors which examines the education system and provides a paradigm for improvement. The aim of this book is to find simple ways to approach improving the school system in America based on a belief that we need to build a system that has improvement built into the process of training and educating both teacher and students. Despite an extensive management structure that exists for K-12 education, most restructuring efforts do not result in better delivery of information at the classroom level. Teachers and site administrators receive little help from the current management structure in improving the product delivered to kids at the classroom level. This book calls for a restructuring of education systems in order to remove redundant and unnecessary functions and to take advantage of economies of scale.

The author's expertise as a classroom teacher and intricate knowledge of W. Edward Deming's continuous improvement model make this book valuable reading.... Recommended., At a time when there's widespread agreement that school management must be smarter and more effective, Rodney Larson has penned a book that promises to help to illuminate that path. Drawing on a teacher's practical understanding of the world of schooling, Larson explains how we can bring William Edwards Deming's influential teachings regarding design and quality control into schooling in a way that works. Decrying piecemeal management reform, he calls for a wholesale rethinking of how we approach schooling and serve students. This provocative book is sure to stimulate fresh thinking and debate among those seeking to improve our nation's schools.

Rodney Larson lives with his wife and daughter and in Riverside, California, where he works as a teacher. His previous experience includes consulting work in both the energy and manufacturing sectors.