Leaving No Child Behind? : Options for Kids in Failing Schools

NCLB is the signal domestic policy initiative of the Bush administration and the most ambitious piece of federal education legislation in at least thirty-five years. Mandating a testing regime to force schools to continually improve student performance, it uses school choice and additional learning resources as sticks and carrots intended to improve low-performing schools and districts. The focus is on improving alternatives to children in low-performing schools. Here top experts evaluate the potential and the problems of NCLB in its initial stages of implementation. This first look provides valuable insights, offering lessons crucial to understanding this dramatic change in American education. This Pioneering Evaluation Of The Implementation And Effects Of The No Child Left Behind Act Of 2001 (nclb) During Its First Two Years Provides Both A Bird's-eye View Of Developments Across The Nation And A Closer Look At Developments In Selected States, Communities, And Schools.--jacket. Introduction / Frederick M. Hess, Chester E. Finn, Jr. -- Public School Choice : An Overview / Richard Lee Colvin -- The Invisible Hand Of Nclb / Siobhan Gorman -- Options For Low-income Students : Evidence From The States / Robert Maranto, April Gresham Maranto -- Florida : Confusions, Constraints, And Cascading Scenarios / Jane Hannaway, Kendra Bischoff -- Colorado : Layered Reforms And Challenges Of Scale / Alex Medler -- Michigan : False Start / David N. Plank, Christopher Dunbar, Jr. -- Fumbling For An Exit Key : Parents, Choice, And The Future Of Nclb / William Howell -- Choice And Supplemental Services In America's Great City Schools / Michael Casserly -- San Diego : Do Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth? / Julian R. Betts, Anne Danenberg -- Worcester : Thunderous Clouds, No Rain / William Howell -- Montgomery County : A Tale Of School Choice / Douglas S. Reed -- Conclusion / Frederick M. Hess, Chester E. Finn, Jr. Edited By Frederick M. Hess And Chester E. Finn, Jr. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 4 Acknowledgments......Page 6 CHAPTER 1 Introduction......Page 8 CHAPTER 2 Public School Choice: An Overview......Page 18 CHAPTER 3 The Invisible Hand of NCLB......Page 44 CHAPTER 4 Options for Low-Income Students: Evidence from the States......Page 70 CHAPTER 5 Florida: Confusions, Constraints, and Cascading Scenarios......Page 96 CHAPTER 6 Colorado: Layered Reforms and Challenges of Scale......Page 120 CHAPTER 7 Michigan: False Start......Page 144 CHAPTER 8 Fumbling for an Exit Key: Parents, Choice, and the Future of NCLB......Page 168 CHAPTER 9 Choice and Supplemental Services in America’s Great City Schools......Page 198 CHAPTER 10 San Diego: Do Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth?......Page 220 CHAPTER 11 Worcester: Thunderous Clouds, No Rain......Page 246 CHAPTER 12 Montgomery County: A Tale of School Choice......Page 270 CHAPTER 13 Conclusion......Page 294 Contributors......Page 312 C......Page 316 L......Page 317 O......Page 318 S......Page 319 W......Page 320 [This book provides an] approach to school reform, stripped bare of the utopian rhetoric and pie-in-the-sky promises that so many school reformers prefer. [The book] prescribes with unblinking realism what must happen for public education to give children the education they need instead of adults the employment they want.-Dust jacket Education has been near the top of the national domestic agenda since the 1980s.