Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?:

Heinemann, 2004

Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?

Kathy Emery and Susan and Susan Ohanian have written a magnificent, carefully documented, and high-voltage manifesto to confront the degradation of our nation's schools by powerful corporations whose self-serving motives and assaultive tactics have developed into a relentless and dehumanizing juggernaut. Steam will be coming out of your ears by the time you finish this extraordinary book. It should be a wake-up call to all who care abut the future of our schools and all who truly value children. —Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools

Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian shout "J'accuse!" to the Business Roundtable, the Education Trust, politicians, and the rest who are selling out America's children in the name of "high standards." A must read for all citizens, not just parents and educators.
—Gerald L. Bracey, Author of On the Death of Childhood and the Destruction of Public Schools

Emery and Ohanian decode the Orwellian doublespeak on education-such as "no child left behind"-cutting through the smokescreen of testing that obscures the actual agenda of privatization.
—David Barsamian, founder and director of Alternative Radio

An invaluable combo of information and fiery inspiration, this book equips us to resist the business powers that be coiling themselves around public schools to squeeze out all respectful, individual teaching.
—Carol Bly, Author of Changing the Bully Who Rules the World

Deluged by demands to regiment the curricula, noosed by high stakes tests, many educators ask, "How can I keep my ideals and still teach?" With meticulous research engagingly presented, Emery and Ohanian offer teachers ways to both resist and create.
—Rich Gibson, San Diego State University

Q: How many businessmen does it take to screw up American schools? A: Only 13, the number of members of the Business Roundtable assigned to the Business Coalition for Education Reform! Emery and Ohanian explain why this joke isn't funny, asking readers to raise their consciousness and their voices to take back public education.
—Patrick Shannon, Pennsylvania State University, author of Becoming Political, Too

Where exactly did high-stakes testing come from anyway? Neither parents, teachers, administrators, nor school boards demanded it, and now many communities feel powerless to reverse its appalling effect on our schools.

Hot on the heels of the testing masterminds and peeling back layer upon layer of documentation, Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian found a familiar scent at the end of the paper trail. Corporate money. CEOs and American big business have blanketed United States public education officials with their influence and, as Emery and Ohanian prove, their fifteen year drive to undemocratize public education has yielded a many-tentacled private-public monster.

With stunning clarity and meticulous research, Emery and Ohanian take you on a tour of board rooms, rightist think tanks, nonprofit "concerned citizens groups," and governmental agencies to expose the real story of how current education reform arose, how its deceptive rhetoric belies its goals, and the true nature of its polarizing and disenfranchising mission.

Why is corporate America bashing our schools? Because it's in their interests-not yours. What can you do to promote your best educational interests? Read this exposé and get ready to dismantle the education-reform machine.

What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten?:

McGraw-Hill, 2002

American School Board Journal's Noteable Books for 2002

A rationale for resisting high-stakes testing that is aimed at giving parents a clear understanding of the consquences testing has for their children.

From the foreword by Alfie Kohn:

"Susan . . . insists that we think about children as children. She refuses to relinquish her sense of outrage or to become inured to what has become commmonplace in our schools. Some books leave the reader with greater insight into the intellectual architecture of problematic practices. . . This book is more likely to leave you wondering: 'Are we out of our minds? What in the hell have we been letting them do to our kids?'"

Reviews:
Here's a review from Education Digest, September 2002

This book sounds alarm bells for parents about the dangers of high-stakes testing, its psychological impact on children, and the future of public schools in America. Sounding the alarm about specific ways these tests harm younger and younger students, Ohanian charges that federal education mandates do not support learning, but in fact take away a student’s most basic learning needs. “Standardistas” and “testocrats,” she charges, are slowly dismantling a system that once used care and common sense to provide each child with necessary and well-rounded skills. Vanishing from schools are recess, learning expectations matched to individual children, art, music, and even that venerable staple—the teacher reading aloud from a favorite book.

What Happened to Recess paints a disturbing portrait of the high-level stress experienced by even the youngest students and the most experienced teachers in today’s public schools. High stakes testing, Ohanian says, has produced terror-stricken kindergartners afraid of failing and long hours of homework for children whose heavy backpacks have caught the attention and alarm of pediatricians.

Ohanian argues that standardized tests administered to young children are often developmentally inappropriate, that they are way beyond the children’s reasoning abilities. As evidence of this, she cites a vote by the Virginia Board of Education to move materials that had been presented to third-graders up four levels to the more appropriate seventh grade.

In New Jersey from 1999-2000, she says, only 6 out of 90,000 children received high marks on the state’s high-stakes writing test. A panel of experts discovered that fourth-graders were being judged by eighth-grade standards.

The author also reports that attempts to prepare students for high-stakes tests have produced curricula that, like some of the tests, are developmentally inappropriate as well. As an example, she cites the topics for a history course. These topics include: Basic Geographic Awareness; Ancient Rome; From Caesar to Augustus; From the Roman Empire to Constantine; Rome Falls and Byzantium Rises; The Early Middle Ages in Western Europe; The Rise of Islam; A World in Turmoil; The Feudal World; Crusades Abroad and Changes in Europe; Medieval African Empires; Medieval China; and Feudal Japan.

This is not the outline for an advanced placement course. No, she says, “This outline is part of what William Bennett terms ‘the frontier of high-quality, high-performance education reform.’ It is the outline for the K12.com history course for second-graders.”


By Substance and NCTE
By Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Caught in the Middle:
Nonstandard Kids and a Killing Curriculum

Heinemann, 2001

A follow-up to One Size Fits Few, this book cuts to the heart of classroom dilemmas. Heart-wrenching and heroic portraits of students show what teachers and students do when standards are shipped in from State Ed.

Here's what Deborah Meier says in the Foreword: "To me, Susan is the quintessential teacher. . . Thanks Susan--on days when the going is toughest, you and your students will always be there with me to help me remain sane. And hopeful."

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Books Day by Day:
Anniversaries, Anecdotes, and Activities

Heinemann, 2001

This book offers a daily celebration of the written word. From Confucius to Captain Underparts, there's a delightful and inspiring literary smorgabord of milestones and anecdotes--along with smart, fun, practical activities for exploring and enjoying an incredibly wide range of literature.

Companion Volume

145 Wonderful Writing Prompts From Favorite Literature (Grades 4-8):

One Size Fits Few:
The Folly of Educational Standards

Heinemann, 1999

A scathing indictment of standardized testing, delivered with sharp wit (reserved for the proponents of testing), and love and empathy (for the students whose lives and learning is profoundly affected by it).

Brief Review:
Ohanian crafts a powerful argument against the use of standards. It is witty and aggressive and polemical-qualities that will make some giggle with delight and others scowl with anger. The book is certain to inspire debate.

PBS Teacher Source (Social Studies Resources)
http://www.pbs.org

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Ask Ms. Class:

Stenhouse, 1995

Ms. Manners meets an educrat's worst nightmare in this collection of questions from teachers and answers from Ms. Class. In hundreds of letters ranging over 300 topics, Ms. Class covers it all--from Adapter Plug Affirmative Action to Pencil Sharpener Two-Tier Function to Yard Duty Variances.

This ultimate advice book is available online. Read it--if you dare.

Garbage Pizza, Patchwork Quilts, and Math Magic:
Stories About Teachers Who Love to Teach and Children Who Love to Learn

W.H. Freeman, 1994

Innovative methods of teaching math in elementary school.

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Who's in Charge?:
A Teacher Speaks Her Mind

Heinemann, 1994

Hard-hitting commentaries on the policies and practices that shape our schools--written by an insider--a classroom teacher

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