By Deborah Meier, Alfie Kohn, Linda Darling Hammond, Theodore R. Sizer and George Wood.(Deborah Meier and George Wood, Editors) Published by Becaon Press out of Boston, Stan Karp, and Monty Neill also contributed chapters.

There are always two sides to every coin, and in education, many, many sides to any pedagogical issues. This book attempts to dissect some of those issues, criticize and critique and then offer plausible alternatives.

George Wood writes the introduction and focuses on three main concerns- "underfunding, restrictive definitions of teacher qualifications and the effects on subgroups". George Wood is correct on certain points. The "highly qualified teacher" issue, is, and probably will continue to be extremely problematic for small rural school systems who want teachers to be able to teach several subjects. But Wood does not go far enough. In some districts, they want the teacher to be not just able to teach math and science, but to be able to coach basketball, track and cross country as well as sponsor the school newspaper and yearbook. Further, Wood cogently discusses the problems that children with disabilities are going to face, and those with limited English proficiency may encounter. We cannot simply grossly overgeneralize about children with disabilities. It is probably time for someone to step up and indicate that there are many children with many different types of disabilities being served in the schools. There are children with mental retardation, learning disabilities, traumatic brain or head injuries, communication disorders, vision and hearing impairments, emotional and behavior problems, autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and those with various other health impairments such as diabetes, asthma and benign congenital hypotonia. And the list could go on. Granted, not all of these children are encountered in each and every classroom, but in large schools, most of not all of these disability categories are seen.

Theodore R. Sizer, offers a preamble to this book, focusing on some crucial points. The NCLB has this focus on " research based " education policy. It is all well and good to attempt or endeavor to apply research based methodologies to the average classroom. However, the average classroom is not a laboratory and the teacher does not have the scientific controls upon which these research based methods are based. Medical research is quite stringent, since human lives are at stake. Educational research methodologies are often less rigorous, and , dare I say it, somewhat sloppy, in sample size, treatment procedures, evaluation of data, liberal versus conservative analysis of data ( Scheffe's vs. LSD post hoc analysis ) and rigor.

Linda Darling-Hammond's chapter discusses what she terms " Alice In Wonderland " accountability ( among other things). Much of her discussion stems around what is often termed " unintended consequences in the literature. Although the initial impetus behind the act may have been quite positive and well meaning, the unintended ramifications and repercussions of the Act have caused grief, strife and exasperation among many in the field of education.

George Wood's chapter examines the effects of NCLB on classrooms and the schools. George talks about some reality issues. We often need a " reality check" and apparently, in response to NCLB schools have begun to have some new categories of kids- " school pushouts, dropouts and retentions George also discusses schools with " multiple subgroups"- the poor, racially, culturally and ethnically different, children with disabities, itinerant/migrant groups, and he then juxtaposes them against the Blue Ribbons Schools, where teacher/student ratio is 15:1 and fewer special education students are enrolled ( for whatever reason).

Stan Karp's chapter dissects the ABC's of AYP and sees the effects on LEP students and delves into a study by the EPI (Economic Policy Institute ) and concludes with a discussion of data from ETS (Educational Testing Service). It is little wonder that older, more experienced teachers are often citing fatigue, trying to learn all of these initials ASAP.

Deborah Meier , in one sentence, tells us the basic problem.
The very definition of what constitutes an "educated person" is now dictated by federal legislation. (p.67). Often, the less said to motivate others to read, the better.

ALfie Kohn believes that NCLB is imply an attempt to privatize education. I am not sure that we need NCLB to do this. James Coleman many years ago, in his famous report communicated quite clearly what was going on in the private and parochial schools. The data and facts about home schooling also lend themselves to the rush to privatization.

Using the Socratic method, Kohn asks three questions. These three questions are intended to begin thinking and discussion. I hope that others will read this book, and reflect on the questions, if only for open examination of the issues.

Monty Neill ends with a chapter on alternatives to NCLB and perhaps overhauling the entire thing. So many politicians and leaders that I have interviewed, spoken with and corresponded with have simply said " Well, all these things have to be " fine tuned" and "we need to work out the kinks" and "we will need to tweak".

There is a lot that needs to be "tweaked". This book, while published in 2004, has not gotten the recognition it deserves or the press that it deserves. It is not a thick book, and will not consume a lot of time to read, but each author has much to say, in a thoughtful way, about an issue facing our schools.

Reviewed by Michael F. Shaughnessy