Failure Up Close

What Happens, Why It Happens, and What We Can Learn from It

Jay P Greene editor Michael Q McShane editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Rowman & Littlefield

Published:22nd Jan '18

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Failure Up Close cover

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.

When Jay Greene and Mike McShane asked some great minds in education policy to put their pens to our failures, they created a great success. It is said that we all love the sound of somebody else being wrong, but this book is about all of us. I loved the lack of snark or accusation; this is honest critique of ideas the authors hoped would succeed. Anybody who has contributed to the failures in this book as I have will find it hard not to cringe, but will be grateful for the lessons. -- Lisa Graham Keegan, chief executive officer, Arizona Chamber Foundation; former superintendent, Public Instruction for the State of Arizona
Greene and McShane in a smartly-written book invite an educated class of reformers, policymakers, and philanthropists to walk with them to the back of the school line to inhale the aroma of failure. Without relying on conjecture or hyperbole, two of America’s best intellectuals and their colleagues methodically unpack a motley assortment of public polices, programs, and partisan plans to explain how and why success is never guaranteed in school reform. We can learn a lot of lessons from past failures. Reading this book puts us one step closer to the front of the line. -- Gerard Robinson, resident fellow, the American Enterprise Institute; former Virginia Secretary of Education and former Commissioner of Education for the State of Florida
Jay Greene and Mike McShane have compiled a powerful assortment of essays addressing the vicissitudes of the education reform era that have led to major changes in policy but arguably marginal impact in practice and outcome. By problematizing the question of failure, Greene and McShane lead us to a new paradigm of change that embraces the complexity of taking well-intended policy from the design stage through implementation all the way to impact. While no politician, policy maker or educator ever wants to fail kids, Greene and McShane show that NCLB, vouchers, VAM, SIG, teacher preparation, technology and philanthropic investments suffer from a disconnect between intention and impact. Wherever you sit on the highly volatile education reform continuum, this book is a must-read for those who actually want to embrace the complexity of public education transformation in order to improve conditions and outcomes for our nation’s kids. -- Joshua P. Starr Ed.D, CEO of PDK International, former Superintendent of the Montgomery County Public Schools

ISBN: 9781475840551

Dimensions: 239mm x 158mm x 21mm

Weight: 481g

214 pages