Rethinking School Reform

Edited by Linda Christensen and Stan Karp

Rethinking School Reform puts classrooms and teaching at the center of the debate over how to improve public schools. This new collection offers a primer on a broad range of pressing issues, including school vouchers and funding, multiculturalism, standards and testing, teacher unions, bilingual education, and federal education policy.

Return to the Rethinking School Reform home page. View the .pdf version of the RSR Table of Contents.

Preface by Sonia Nieto — iii

Introduction — vi

Part 1 — CRITICAL TEACHING

• Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice — 3
  by the Editors of Rethinking Schools
• Untracking English —10
  by Linda Christensen
• Unsung Heroes — 33
  by Howard Zinn
• Teaching About Unsung Heroes — 37
  by Bill Bigelow
• The Truth About Helen Keller — 45
  by Ruth Shagoury Hubbard
• Acting for Justice — 53
  by Linda Christensen
• One Teacher’s Journey — 60
  by Bob Peterson

Part 2 — TAKING BIAS SERIOUSLY

• Ebonics and Cuturally Responsive Instruction — 79
  by Lisa Delpit
• Once Upon a Genocide: Columbus in Children's Literature — 89
  by Bill Bigelow
• Arranged Marriages, Rearranged Ideas — 103
  by Stan Karp
• Presidents and Slaves: Helping Students Find the Truth— 115
  by Bob Peterson
• Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us — 126
  by Linda Christensen
• What Color is Beautiful? — 138
  by Alejandro Segura-Mora
• Out Front — 144
  by Annie Johnston

Part 3 — EDUCATION POLICY AND POLITICS

• Schools More Separate: A Decade of Resegregration — 155
  by Gary Orfield
• Neighborhood Schools: Déjà Vu — 165
  by Bob Lowe
• “Choice” and Other White Lies — 170
  by Makani Themba-Nixon
• For-Profits Target Education — 176
  by Barbara Miner
• Learning to Read “Scientifically” — 184
  by Gerald Coles
• Bush’s Bad Idea for Bilingual Education — 192
  by Stephen Krashen
• Let Them Eat Tests: NCLB and Federal Education Policy — 199
  by Stan Karp

Part 4 — STANDARDS AND TESTING

• The Educational Costs of Standardization — 215
  by Linda McNeil
• Race, Testing and the Miner’s Canary — 225
  by Lani Guinier
• Standards and Multiculturalism — 231
  by Bill Bigelow
• Testing Slights Multiculturalism — 240
  by Makani Themba-Nixon
• Teaching in Dangerous Times — 242
  by Gloria Ladson-Billings
• Their Report Card — And Ours — 252
  by Portland Area Rethinking Schools

Part 5 — ROADS TO REFORM

• Drive-by School Reform
  by Stan Karp — 259
• Reconstituting Jefferson: Lessons on School Reform
  by Linda Christensen — 266
• Money, Schools and Justice
  by Stan Karp — 275
• Teacher Councils: Tools for Change
  by Bob Peterson — 287
• “Summer Camp” for Teachers: Alternative Staff
  Development by S. J. Childs — 297
• Survival and Justice: Twin Goals for Teacher Unions
  by Bob Peterson — 305
• Confronting Racism, Promoting Respect
  by Tom McKenna — 315
• Editors — 325
• Contributors — 326
• Index — 329