America's "Failing" Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope with No Child Left Behind.

America's "Failing" Schools: How Parents and Teachers Can Cope with No Child Left Behind. W. James Popham. (Routledge.)

Popham has written a volume that indulges in flights of hyperbole yet retains a tone of serious scrutiny about NCLB accountability. The author establishes his sincerity early, dismissing complaints that NCLB is underfunded as a "phony" dispute. However, even as he is offering this sensible observation, he is explaining that NCLB, "even with super-abundant funding, will be ruinous for our schools." Popham's criticisms encompass the savvy as well as the silly. He reasonably dings NCLB for the tests the states use, for the crudeness of the adequate yearly progress (AYP) determination, and for the gamesmanship allowed in state AYP timelines. But then he also drags out old tropes about excessive test preparation and the ethical issues posed by such practices. Moreover, despite pointing out the difference between accountability systems and particular assessment instruments, the author frequently appears to attribute the problems of mediocre state tests to NCLB itself. While Popham's preferred solutions may cause some chuckles among accountability proponents--he champions the use of "affective inventories," student work samples, and the like--his analysis constitutes a meaningful critique of the NCLB accountability system and raises hard questions that NCLB proponents need to address.

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