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Title: BEYOND THE CLASSROOM by Laurence Steinberg ISBN: 0-684-83575-4 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 17 October, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reformed Has Failed and Wha
Comment: In summarizing over a decade of academic research into high school student achievement, Laurence Steinberg, in Beyond the Classroom-Why School Reformed has Failed and What Parents Need to Do, poses an alternative hypothesis. He argues that poor student achievement and low student commitment are determined outside the school and therefore, attempts to solve the problem of American education through school reform are ineffective. Steinberg offers that a lack of engagement on the part of students has pervaded American teenagers across all socio-economic layers and is the root cause of school failure.
The author effectively develops his argument by defining and comparing engaged and disengaged students. He then cites research into ethnicity, parenting, extra-curricula activities, and peer grouping as the contributors and distracters to academic engagement. His analysis of the significance of peer group influences provides validation of what many parents would argue as common sense findings. Throughout the text Steinberg masterfully presents traditional arguments from both sides of the political spectrum and answers them with findings supported by research data.
Beyond the Classroom closes with ten recommendations for parents, educators, and government officials. Unfortunately, Steinberg's recommendations suggest that improvement in student performance requires societal structural changes that at best assume active acceptance and participation of a majority of citizens engaged in social reform. However, to believe that a society disengaged from it's educational system - a system responsible in large part for proliferating the attributes of citizenship - can develop the will to make such systematic change is unrealistic.
Perhaps Steinberg's most significant contribution in offering Beyond the Classroom is in dispelling the concept that school reform in the existing school system can in fact solve the problem of low academic performance. This purpose alone makes this book a worthwhile read for those engaged in the welfare of our children.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must-Read for Those Interested in Reform
Comment: Steinberg's book is a splash of cold water making readers face the real state of student achievement in America by focusing on what is influencing our high school students. Through this 10 year longitudinal study, interviewing more than 20,000 students and their parents, and comparing these findings with other prominent studies, Steinberg uncovers the root causes for low student achievement in America as compared to students in other countries and therefore why school reform initiatives have failed.
With an emphasis on student engagement in learning, the study looks at factors such as parenting strategies, the influence of peers and extracurricular activities. Steinberg looks primarily at issues beyond the school walls as the data shows these influences (large scale) are greater indicators of student success or failure than teacher's classroom practice or organization of the school system. Each factor is analyzed through the lens of socio-economic status, ethnicity, peer relationships and length of time since immigration to this country. As a result, the reader is forced to question the American culture; the attitudes, beliefs and values we perpetuate.
The good news is working hard in school is a strong predictor of academic achievement. Friends and group identity at school make a difference as do parenting techniques. The issues that we need to face are the rampant disengagement of parents in their children's lives, a peer culture that demeans academic success and scorns students who work hard and the negative impact on excessive extracurricular activity on student's achievement.
Steinberg makes 10 recommendations to begin refocusing the country's efforts. Each requires our society to take a good hard look at how we 'do business'. To increase academic success for all students will require compromises and change on the part of students, parents, schools, businesses, government and mass media.
In a sobering thought, Steinberg asserts that "no curricular overhaul, no instructional innovation, no change in school organization, no toughening of standards, no rethinking of teacher training or compensation will succeed if students do not come to school interested in, and committed to, learning. In order to understand how this commitment develops, why it has waned over the past three decades, and, more importantly, how we can reengage students in the business of learning, we need to look, not at what goes on inside the classroom, but at students' lives outside the school's walls. Until we do just this, school reform will continue to be a disappointment, and our students' achievement will fail to improve."
I finished the book out of breath. We're in a race to save our children. Will our country pull together in time?
Rating: 5
Summary: This book helped me as a parent
Comment: From his carefully designed, three-year study on American teenagers, Laurence Steinberg has concluded that our kids do badly in school because of the attitudes they hold toward education, the way they are parented, the peer groups they join, and the way they spend their time after school. As a parent, I learned plenty of good, specific ideas for steering my daughter toward academic success. Clearly thought out and written, this book is a fascinating read for anyone who cares about education, children, or the future of our country.
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Title: No More Ritalin: Treating Adhd Without Drugs by Mary, Dr Block, Mary Ann Block ISBN: 1575662396 Publisher: Kensington Mass Market Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform by Diane Ravitch ISBN: 0743203267 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 07 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools You Should Know About Even If You're Not a Straight-A Student by Loren Pope ISBN: 0140296166 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College (Fiske Gide to Getting into the Right College) by Edward B. Fiske, Bruce G. Hammond ISBN: 1570719063 Publisher: Sourcebooks Trade Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: How to Get into the Top Colleges by Richard Montauk, Krista Klein ISBN: 0735201005 Publisher: Prentice Hall Press Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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