Book Reviews Archive

  • Susan Ohanian has allowed us to print a brief review of Children and Reading Tests, a  book by Clifford Hill and Eric Larson.  Ohanian is a nationally known activist parent who writes extensively and operates a popular website at http://www.susanohanian.org/. Read Children and Reading Tests by Clifford Hill and Eric Larson Even if you  already know  that reading test questions aren’t fair, reasonable, non-biased, and an accurate assessment of children’s reading ability, you should read this book. It will knock your socks off. Using methods of discourse analysis, the authors examine not only representative material from reading tests but also children’s responses to that material. In short, they talk to children about why they chose the answers they did, and suddenly the reader is made aware of how biased toward an adult perspective the reading tests are. We see how...

    Children and Reading Tests

    Posted on July 18, 2010 | No Comments
    Susan Ohanian has allowed us to print a brief review of Children and Reading Tests, a  book by Clifford Hill and Eric Larson.  Ohanian is a nationally known activist parent who writes extensively and operates a popular website at http://www.susanohanian.org/. Read Children and Reading Tests by Clifford Hill and Eric Larson Even if you  already know  that reading test questions aren’t fair, reasonable, non-biased, and an accurate assessment of children’s reading ability, you should read this book. It will knock your socks off. Using methods of discourse analysis, the authors examine not only representative material from reading tests but also children’s responses to that material. In short, they talk to children about why they chose the answers they did, and suddenly the reader is made aware of how biased toward an adult perspective the reading tests are. We see how...

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  • One of our favorite people in the field of education is Bob Sylwester, recently retired  University of Oregon professor who is a world leader in the field of brain research as it applies to schools and learning.  Although health problems have restricted his once extensive international lecture and training schedule, he continues to write to his friends and is currently finishing up a new book.  We have asked him to allow us to share his latest post with the citizens of the Kennewick School District and he has agreed.  The contents of his note follow. Dear Friends The July/August issue of Scientific American Mind (an excellent theme issue on recent memory research) includes Diana Deutsch’s superb synthesis of recent educationally significant research discoveries on the underlying neurobiology of the overlapping relationship between our brain’s language and music processing systems.  It’s good news...

    Speaking in Tones

    Posted on July 18, 2010 | No Comments
    One of our favorite people in the field of education is Bob Sylwester, recently retired  University of Oregon professor who is a world leader in the field of brain research as it applies to schools and learning.  Although health problems have restricted his once extensive international lecture and training schedule, he continues to write to his friends and is currently finishing up a new book.  We have asked him to allow us to share his latest post with the citizens of the Kennewick School District and he has agreed.  The contents of his note follow. Dear Friends The July/August issue of Scientific American Mind (an excellent theme issue on recent memory research) includes Diana Deutsch’s superb synthesis of recent educationally significant research discoveries on the underlying neurobiology of the overlapping relationship between our brain’s language and music processing systems.  It’s good news...

    Continue Reading...

  • By Deborah Meier, Brenda Engel, and Beth Taylor. Why is play important in the lives of children? What crucial aspects of learning are being neglected in the current near-elimination of recess time in public schools? Playing for Keeps, co-authored by the well-known writer and educational leader Deborah Meier, and two colleagues with equally long experience in schools, explores these questions. Based on close observations on a public school playground, the book shows children at play in a relatively natural, unstructured environment. The reader is virtually there, seeing, listening in, able to appreciate the children’s curiosity, humor, intelligence, and inventiveness. Readers will recognize the children’s voices and ways of thinking, and perhaps be reminded of their own childhood, their own children, or the children they teach. The authors comment on the observations, adding to the reader’s own perceptions. This lively, engaging...

    Review: Playing for Keeps: Life and Learning on a Public School Playground

    Posted on June 10, 2010 | 8 Comments
    By Deborah Meier, Brenda Engel, and Beth Taylor. Why is play important in the lives of children? What crucial aspects of learning are being neglected in the current near-elimination of recess time in public schools? Playing for Keeps, co-authored by the well-known writer and educational leader Deborah Meier, and two colleagues with equally long experience in schools, explores these questions. Based on close observations on a public school playground, the book shows children at play in a relatively natural, unstructured environment. The reader is virtually there, seeing, listening in, able to appreciate the children’s curiosity, humor, intelligence, and inventiveness. Readers will recognize the children’s voices and ways of thinking, and perhaps be reminded of their own childhood, their own children, or the children they teach. The authors comment on the observations, adding to the reader’s own perceptions. This lively, engaging...

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  • America's increasing reliance on standardized testing as a yardstick for educational success is a flawed policy that threatens to undermine the nation's strengths of creativity and innovation, according to a provocative new book from a Michigan State University scholar.

    Catching Up or Leading the Way

    Posted on May 7, 2010 | 1 Comment
    America's increasing reliance on standardized testing as a yardstick for educational success is a flawed policy that threatens to undermine the nation's strengths of creativity and innovation, according to a provocative new book from a Michigan State University scholar.

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  • A REVIEW OF John C. Hattie, (2009), Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement.  London & New York:  Routledge, Taylor& Francis Group, 379 pp.   ISBN 10:0-415-47617-8, $42.00. By Donald C. Orlich, Professor Emeritus,Washington State University, Pullman Don Orlich, Professor Emeritus at Washington State University, and noted education researcher, presents his review of John Hattie’s Visible Learning below.  The book, which Orlich calls “MUST reading for all involved in teacher education programs, those who determine educational policies and programs, and school evaluators,” is a detailed analysis of hundreds of studies done over the years describing various treatments to improve student achievement.  The book is highly technical and even the review is challenging to the non-technical reader, but the outcomes of Hattie’s monumental efforts are too important to ignore.  In Orlich’s words, “Nevertheless, two conclusions may be inferred:...

    REVIEW

    Posted on May 6, 2010 | 2 Comments
    A REVIEW OF John C. Hattie, (2009), Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement.  London & New York:  Routledge, Taylor& Francis Group, 379 pp.   ISBN 10:0-415-47617-8, $42.00. By Donald C. Orlich, Professor Emeritus,Washington State University, Pullman Don Orlich, Professor Emeritus at Washington State University, and noted education researcher, presents his review of John Hattie’s Visible Learning below.  The book, which Orlich calls “MUST reading for all involved in teacher education programs, those who determine educational policies and programs, and school evaluators,” is a detailed analysis of hundreds of studies done over the years describing various treatments to improve student achievement.  The book is highly technical and even the review is challenging to the non-technical reader, but the outcomes of Hattie’s monumental efforts are too important to ignore.  In Orlich’s words, “Nevertheless, two conclusions may be inferred:...

    Continue Reading...

  • REVIEW Throughout the history of public education in the U.S. there have been periods of dissatisfaction with the schools and countless remedies have been suggested to “save the schools.”  The current cycle of reform began in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk, a national report that attempted to tie our place in the global economy to the role of the public schools.  The report stated “the nation’s global preeminence in science, technology, industry, commerce, and military defense is threatened by its mediocre education.”  Notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. economy has lead the world nearly every year since 1983, a never-ending onslaught has been faced by teachers and school officials to make over the schools in the image of business as a means to saving our way of life.

    The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

    Posted on May 1, 2010 | No Comments
    REVIEW Throughout the history of public education in the U.S. there have been periods of dissatisfaction with the schools and countless remedies have been suggested to “save the schools.”  The current cycle of reform began in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk, a national report that attempted to tie our place in the global economy to the role of the public schools.  The report stated “the nation’s global preeminence in science, technology, industry, commerce, and military defense is threatened by its mediocre education.”  Notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. economy has lead the world nearly every year since 1983, a never-ending onslaught has been faced by teachers and school officials to make over the schools in the image of business as a means to saving our way of life.

    Continue Reading...