MythBuster

Myth: Fixing No Child Left Behind means changing accountability systems to make them less onerous to schools and districts.

When you hear that, here's the question to ask: are children’s or adults’ interests being served?

It’s BeingDone: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools, has been published by Harvard Education Press .

Readers of the Alliance Alert will recognize the book as a compilation of the Success Stories that have been published in this newsletter, together with some additional material that attempts to draw lessons from all of them.

Advance praise:

“This scrupulous and humane book shows that a good school can make a decisive difference in giving every child a chance to achieve the American Dream.” – E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author and educator.

“It’s Being Done will contribute significantly to the national conversation on the education of our children. Perhaps more important, it will give us reason to hope.” – Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president, University of Maryland Baltimore County.

“If every school in America adopted the lessons of It’s Being Done, then the achievement gap—in my view, the greatest injustice facing our nation—would be relegated to the history books.” – Jason Kamras, 2006 National Teacher of the Year.

For more information, and to order the book, go to http://www.hepg.org/hep/Book/65

It's Being Done

A large New York City school is raising the level of intellectual discourse with its solid curriculum and careful instruction.

What's New

• Even if the smart money is still betting against the possibility of reauthorization of No Child Left Behind this session, that's not how the congressional committees are acting?
  
  
• Why do teachers leave the profession?  Hint: It's not about the money.

Other Voices

A principal, a central administrator, and a newspaper all have good things to say about No Child Left Behind.