Changes to Improve Schools is a book about educational reform. Richard Garrett has spent ten years researching the U.S. K-12 system to find things in need of improvements. The book has 17 chapters that cover a wide range of topics such as the performance of American students, classroom discipline, and apprehensions younger graduates face when deciding to pursue educational fields.
Recommendations by the National Council on Education Standards and Testing (NCEST) are provided concerning whether national standards and a system of assessments are desirable and feasible and how national standards and a system of assessments are to be developed and implemented. The NCEST found that the absence of explicit national standards keyed to world-class levels of performance severely hampers the ability to monitor the nation's progress toward the six national education goals. Without well-defined and demanding standards, American education has gravitated toward "de facto" national minimum expectations, with curricula focusing on low-level reading and arithmetic skills and on small amounts of factual material in other content areas. Most current assessment methods cannot determine if students are acquiring the skills/knowledge they need to prosper in the future. These assessments reinforce the emphasis on low-level skills and processing bits of data rather than on problem solving and critical thinking. It is concluded that high national education standards and a voluntary linked system of assessments are desirable and feasible mechanisms for raising expectations, revitalizing instruction, and rejuvenating education reform efforts for all American schools and students. The NCEST will work toward local commitment to high national expectation for achievement for all students, and toward developing Federal, state, and local policies that ensure high quality resources (instructional materials and well-prepared teachers). Acknowledgments; authorization for the NCEST; public comments; the six national education goals; and reports of the standards, assessment, implementation, English, mathematics, science, history, and geography task forces of the NCEST are appended. (RLC)
This book takes a hard look at the behavior of the modern enterprise as it evolves in this increasingly complex universe. It offers a thoroughly candid analysis of the way things really worktaking the perspective of people being both the perpetrators and the victims in the corporate game. The objective of this critical analysis is to stimulate thought about the modern enterprise and its interaction with humanity and culture. In essence, to understand things and find ways to improve them.
Are you FED UP with Congress? For most Americans, the answer would be an emphatic, "Yes!". So why do members waltz back into office term after term? Even in so-called, change years? Are Americans really that dumb? ... Maybe not. In this book, a veteran activist and observer opens the hood of our political system, and reveals as never before the innocent, but crucial errors made by the founders in designing our national legislature. You will learn how those flaws combined with human nature to produce an institution that now fails us so thoroughly, so often, it no longer seems capable of rational public policy. You will see how today's politics seduces and corrupts even the best and most well-meaning leaders, including someone you have trusted (and re-elected) for years. You will understand why our leaders refuse to act, and why reforms fail time and again. Finally, the author proposes a sensible plan, along with effective steps you can take, to truly Fix Congress, once and for all!
In 2014, automakers in the United States more than doubled their previous all-time record for automotive safety recalls. The most prominent recall was for a defective ignition switch in General Motors vehicles that caused cars to stall and airbags to fail in a crash, prompting a legal, financial and public relations nightmare for the company. "The Ignition Switch from Hell" examines the engineering, managerial and supplier relations problems that led to the defective part. The book provides suggestions on how GM management can improve vehicle quality assurance, including case studies of quality assurance systems from Japanese suppliers.
"Unlocking Ford Secrets," written by retired Ford quality experts, will help suppliers successfully consolidate operations through the integration of all design, engineering and manufacturing functions for improved capabilities at lower costs. The book is an in-depth, technical textbook designed to provide a proven roadmap for automotive companies and suppliers to improve the quality and reliability of their products while effectively consolidating suppliers and manufacturing locations in order to create best-in-class products to increase profitability. The book contains hundreds of pages of exclusive content from Dr. W.E. Deming, Ford Alpha and other experts, and 71 detailed case studies.
From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, “whistle-blower extraordinaire” (The Wall Street Journal), author of the best-selling The Death and Life of the Great American School System (“Important and riveting”—Library Journal), The Language Police (“Impassioned . . . Fiercely argued . . . Every bit as alarming as it is illuminating”—The New York Times), and other notable books on education history and policy—an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch argues that the crisis in American education is not a crisis of academic achievement but a concerted effort to destroy public schools in this country. She makes clear that, contrary to the claims being made, public school test scores and graduation rates are the highest they’ve ever been, and dropout rates are at their lowest point. She argues that federal programs such as George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama’s Race to the Top set unreasonable targets for American students, punish schools, and result in teachers being fired if their students underperform, unfairly branding those educators as failures. She warns that major foundations, individual billionaires, and Wall Street hedge fund managers are encouraging the privatization of public education, some for idealistic reasons, others for profit. Many who work with equity funds are eyeing public education as an emerging market for investors. Reign of Error begins where The Death and Life of the Great American School System left off, providing a deeper argument against privatization and for public education, and in a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, putting forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve it. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it. For Ravitch, public school education is about knowledge, about learning, about developing character, and about creating citizens for our society. It’s about helping to inspire independent thinkers, not just honing job skills or preparing people for college. Public school education is essential to our democracy, and its aim, since the founding of this country, has been to educate citizens who will help carry democracy into the future.
