Implementing NCLB: Creating a Knowledge Framework to Support School Improvement.

Implementing NCLB: Creating a Knowledge Framework to Support School Improvement

by Paul L. Kimmelman, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2006, 167 pp. with index, $29.95 softcover 

The purpose of Paul L. Kimmelman's book, Implementing NCLB: Creating a Knowledge Framework to Support School Improvement, is to forge a base of knowledge that school leaders and policymakers can use to answer the challenges of No Child Left Behind.

Kimmelman, a retired superintendent in Illinois, takes a positive view of NCLB, and his writing assumes a "make no excuses" tone. He believes educators should stop expending time and effort debating NCLB and concentrate their efforts on raising student achievement levels.

The book is organized around knowledge acquisition, management and implementation to build capacity, and Kimmelman provides an excellent history of accountability in education, starting with the launch of Sputnik in 1957.

The two sections of his book that appear to be most valuable to practitioners focus on professional development and the importance of using stories.

In the former chapter, Kimmelman provides strategies that use study groups, action research, guided activities and teacher leaders. What makes this section powerful is the obvious connection between these strategies and school improvement.

In his concluding chapter on courageous leadership, the author describes the importance of story telling in conveying concepts. As with the section on professional development, the power here comes through the connection between the specifics of the strategy and school improvement.

Reviewed by Ronald Styron Jr., chair, department of educational leadership and research, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Miss.