Description: For decades, Americans have debated why our students consistently score lower than their peers in other developed countries. While most debates have focused on school spending, curriculum, teacher quality, and teachers' unions, No Adult Left Behind argues that local democratic control is the root of the problem. Elected school boards govern local school districts, but only adults vote in local elections - most of whom don't have children or care about academics. This leads to educational debates that are centered around issues that adults care most about, such as partisanship, identity politics, property values, and employment concerns, while the needs of students get left behind. In identifying the misalignment between the interests of school children and the political and policy agendas of the adults who control education, No Adult Left Behind stands to become a landmark study on modern education politics.
Brief description: Vladimir Kogan is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Ohio State University and one of America's leading scholars of education politics. Kogan previously covered education at the Voice of San Diego, a pioneering nonprofit specializing in investigative journalism.
Review Quotes: 'This book could not be more timely! In some ways the debates and issues schools are struggling with today are new. But, as Vlad's book shows, many of them are not. The history presented about polarized schooling debates, and ways to frame them, are invaluable as we contend with what seems like an era of more continuous cultural wars.' Dan Goldhaber, Affiliate Research Professor, School of Social Work, University of Washington