5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for parents!
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I read this book as a concerned parent with children in public school. I greatly appreciated the well-researched and extensive data displayed to explain the facts and opinions Dan Peterson has about America’s public schools. I learned a lot about America’s strengths in the public education system compared to other top scoring countries. It made me proud to have the privilege of sending my children to school in America. It also made me want to take advantage of the extracurricular activities offered at the school my children attend, since I learned that other countries do not offer extracurriculars to the same extent we do. There are so many good principles and values children learn from extracurriculars. I also learned how to navigate the education my children are receiving. Because I know more about strengths and weaknesses of public schools, I feel I can better communicate with teachers about my children and their education. This book provided me with the education I needed about the public school system to advocate for appropriate changes and vote appropriately to ensure a better education for my children and America’s future.
Martha
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written. Very informative. Empowering.
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All my children and grandchildren have attended public schools in the United States. I have always wondered what constitutes a quality public school system and what impacts its level of success. Although I was a very involved parent/guardian in my children’s schools, I felt I was not well-informed nor empowered to voice my ideas and concerns within the public school system. This book helped me to better understand America’s Public Schools and inspires me to continue my involvement and support positive differences for today’s and generations to come. The author’s comparison of America’s Public Schools to other Top Scoring Nations was very informative, valuable, and impressive.
5.0 out of 5 stars Tools for Change: what’s good, what’s bad in American pubic education, and how to make it better.
Dan Peterson loves kids, teachers, and US public schools. In his book, he invites the reader into the hearts and circumstances of America’s public school children with a focus on his corner of the world, the Pacific NW. Lest anyone thinks this is a parochial work, it is not. As a teacher, principal, educator, world traveler, and host to foreign students and teachers, Peterson applies the micro-examples to the world stage. Through his extensive and often original research into the practices and outcomes in the top test scoring countries, Canada, Finland, Japan, and Korea, Peterson compares our public school students with their’s. So much has been written about how bad our schools are and how poorly we measure up. Through Peterson’s lens, we see what is truly wonderful about our schools. His opening chapters focus on the funding of public education: our schools are woefully underfunded, well below the spending levels in the four comparison countries. Peterson then turns to the strengths of our schools[4-6]. American school children learn to think for themselves, creatively engage with material, and get an incomparable level of individual attention by dedicated teachers. In the next section [7-10], Peterson delves into the problems affecting public education. If you are a person who wants to effect public policy at the local, state, and national level, the comparison data presented in these chapers give you the specific tools you need to lobby effectively for change. Peterson unpacks with detailed data the over-all achievement, achievement gaps and the effects of poverty, diversity, levels of early childhood preparedness, school finance, and the lack of a states-wide consistency. And Peterson lays out a plan [10-11]. Read the book yourself if you are a concerned parent, a teacher, a principal, on the school board or the staff of an elected official and you will find a guide for strengthening what is good and for improving what is not working. Eighty-eight percent of the children in America are educated publically. These children are the future. They need a good, well-funded education. Use Dan Peterson’s book to make that happen.
5.0 out of 5 stars Prepare to be surprised!
No matter what preconceptions about our public school system you bring to the reading of this book, prepare to be surprised. As a former school board director, I was. Peterson advocates for a national response to reinforce local efforts, targeting the decline in school funding per capita and entrenched achievement gaps. His book came alive with real stories from his years as an educator, making this more than a compilation of data sets. I was glad to see this book was not a universal endorsement of foreign school systems (Canada, Finland, Japan, South Korea), or a universal indictment of ours. Strengths of our system are highlighted, as well as challenges, while providing specific steps for improvement, with or without additional government funding. You may disagree with a conclusion, but the numbers from Peterson’s extensive research, tables, and graphs still stand. Many people criticize the American public school system; Peterson outlines a detailed and comprehensive approach to improvement because, as a teacher, he knows the impact public education has, lived out one student at a time.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for educators and students!!
This book was given to me by a friend who is an educator. She liked it and mentioned it compared K-12 education in the United States and Canada. Before moving to Canada, I had lived in the United States for many years and attended schools there, so I looked forward to the comparisons.
First, Mr. Peterson compares education in the USA, Canada, Finland, Japan, and South Korea. I was able to compare Canadian education with other countries as well.
Second, what I learned is that in many areas Canada is doing very well, and in some areas we can improve. It also points out the similarities between Canadian and American education.
Lastly, I must tell potential readers that the book has a lot of research; it is quite dense. The result is that the points made are very convincing, and I learned a lot. The amount of research evidence means that the points avoid biases often indicated in many books, since other authors often cite very little data.