This timely book explores what is often overlooked in policy debates about the education of English language learners: how the day-to-day dynamics of the classroom are affected by high-stakes testing and the pressures students and teachers experience and internalize as a result. The author presents and analyzes classroom observations, student work, and test scores, as well as interviews with students and teachers. A disturbing picture of today’s overtested public school classroom emerges from the events and practices described in this book. While hard to believe, all the depictions presented took place in a real elementary school classroom and reflect the current culture of extreme accountability. Overtestednot only describes the flaws in our current accountability system, but it also provides real-world solutions that can have an immediate and positive effect at the classroom, state, and national level. Chapters address key debates such as how to measure proficiency, the validity of various language assessment tools, the overuse of assessment, and the risks and benefits of teaching language arts to English language learners via mandated, structured curricula. Jessica Zacher Pandyais an Associate Professor in the Departments of Teacher Education and Liberal Studies at California State University, Long Beach. “This book tells an important tale that cannot be conveyed by numbers and tables.... It is important information for teachers; for those who depend on, employ, and train teachers; and for those who create the policies under which teachers are required to operate.” —From the Foreword byRobert Rueda, University of Southern California, author ofThe 3 Dimensions of Improving Student Performance: Finding the Right Solutions to the Right Problems “How many more dire tales of ‘schooling for assessment’ must be told before we realize that teaching and testing are not the same and that scores on standardized, multiple choice achievement tests are a sorry substitute for an engaging learning environment? In this book, Jessica Zacher Pandya reaches across ideological and institutional borders to offer reasonable, pragmatic solutions for change.” —Linda Valli, Jeffrey & David Mullan Professor of Teacher Education & Professional Development, College of Education, University of Maryland “Zacher Pandya’s invaluable book exposes the injustices and absurdities of our high-stakes accountability era. Just as importantly, it limns a more academically robust and culturally relevant instructional vision for English language learners.” —Gerald Campano, University of Pennsylvania

"From the director of Race to Nowhere comes a ... book for parents, students, and educators on how to revolutionize learning, prioritize children's health, and re-envision success for a lifetime"--

America's leading expert in educational testing and measurement openly names the failures caused by today's testing policies and provides a blueprint for doing better. 6 x 9.

The curriculum-driven instructional model has been the standard method of teaching for more than a century, but it is consistently failing to produce well-educated citizens and lifelong learners. Pressured by standardized testing and rigid pacing guidelines, teachers are forced to cover too much content too quickly, without being able to meet the needs of individual students. In this powerful new book from acclaimed author and speaker Bob Sornson, you’ll learn how shifting from curriculum-based instruction to competency based learning can help students become more successful, confident, and engaged learners. Topics include: Understanding the curriculum-driven model and the problems with "cover and sort" methodology; Making the transition from curriculum-driven to competency based learning; Identifying crucial learning outcomes and giving students all the time and instruction needed to fully master these outcomes; Building a positive teaching and learning environment; And more! Each chapter is short and easy to digest, and provides compelling research, strategies, and anecdotes to inspire conversation and action. Teachers, administrators, and community leaders will all find helpful resources and arguments for re-working our current educational system into a new, dynamic model of teaching and learning.

Drawing on decades of experience in health care policy, health care delivery reform, and economics, provides a non-partisan analysis of Obama's health care reform and what it means for America and its future.

Our health care is staggeringly expensive, yet one in six Americans has no health insurance. We have some of the most skilled physicians in the world, yet one hundred thousand patients die each year from medical errors. In this gripping, eye-opening book, award-winning journalist Shannon Brownlee takes readers inside the hospital to dismantle some of our most venerated myths about American medicine. Brownlee dissects what she calls "the medical-industrial complex" and lays bare the backward economic incentives embedded in our system, revealing a stunning portrait of the care we now receive. Nevertheless, Overtreated ultimately conveys a message of hope by reframing the debate over health care reform. It offers a way to control costs and cover the uninsured, while simultaneously improving the quality of American medicine. Shannon Brownlee's humane, intelligent, and penetrating analysis empowers readers to avoid the perils of overtreatment, as well as pointing the way to better health care for everyone.