Russ Walsh, on his blog, selects the best education books of 2014.
He begins with Anthony Cody’s “The Educator and the Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation.”
Then he chooses Mercedes Schneider’s “A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Education.”
The rest of his list includes other stirring refutations of lies about public schools and analyses of the current situation.
Did he miss one of your favorites? Please let us know what you would add to the list.
I would add Yong Zhao’s “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Dragon? Why China Has the Best (and the Worst) School System in the World.”
And,
Jesse Hagopian,”More than a Score: The Néw Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing.”
Jose Luis Vilson, “This is not a Test: A Néw Narrative on Race, Class, and Education.”
Bob Herbert, “Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America”
Let me know if I left out any of your favorite books published in 2014.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
This probably doesn’t qualify since it was originally published in 1948 and has been reprinted a couple times since, but Caroline Pratt’s I LEARN FROM CHILDREN was reprinted again in 2014 and was my favorite education book of the year.
Here are three books on K-12 education worth reading and discussing although they were
not written in 2014 . These include::
(1) The One Room School House by Salmon Khan, Published in 2012
(2) The Smartest Kids in the World by Amanda Ripley, published in 2013.
(3) David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell Published in 2013
eka
Mike Rose Education For All of Us (New York: New Press, 2009; Revised edition, 2014)
I read the first five (of six total) on his list.
They all deserve to be there.
IMHO, the owner of this blog is quite right to suggest adding Yong Zhao’s book to that list.
If I may, let me point to one of the most thought-provoking parts of those worthy tomes and others, taken from Anthony Cody’s THE EDUCATOR AND THE OLIGARCH (p. 146):
Chapter 22, “Bill Gates and the Cult of Measurement: Efficiency Without Excellence.”
It’s short, less than four pages total, and in all fairness cannot be fully understood without reading his book, but here goes:
“Measurement and standardization delivers efficiency without excellence. When this becomes the driving force in a marketized education system, it both fosters conformity and channels innovation towards commercially viable solutions for those unable to purchase the sort of personalized education the wealthy choose for their own children. Measurement in education will not serve the poor. It will merely make the schools attended by the poor more efficient in preserving their poverty.”
And to add my own little encouragement to those wanting to find where they stand in the often murky—and muddied waters—of the ed debates, nothing beats getting some good advice from long long ago:
“To find yourself, think for yourself.” [Socrates]
But if someone feels that such words are “all Greek to me” then let’s go with some homegrown counsel:
“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.” [Frederick Douglass]
Read and get unfit.
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I apologize for not making myself clear.
The quote I provide from Chapter 22 of Anthony Cody’s THE EDUCATOR AND THE OLIGARCH is the last paragraph in that chapter. The chapter itself is less than four full pages.
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Teacher Wars by Dana Goldstein. So many questions are answered by this history of education in America. Like, how did it come to be a profession of mostly women (and not coincidentally, a low paying one)? And, how did teachers’ unions get started? A lot of today’s issues are shown to have roots way back to 1800. Goldstein also includes stories about the people involved and makes it very interesting.
And, KrazyTA just reminded me, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is fantastic, educational and inspiring.
jenlovesravitch: if I may, a reminder why education that encourages self-education, leading to self-awareness, is so important:
“I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.” [Frederick Douglass]
And this type of self-awareness leads to action:
“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” [Harriet Tubman]
This blog. NPE. Chicago conference in April.
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Three others to consider:
Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach, Sam Intrator and Megan Scribner, editors
No Struggle, No Progress: A Warrior’s Life from Black Power to Education Reform
Howard Fuller & Lisa Frasier Page
The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession,
Dana Goldstein
That second book sounds like a heartbreaker. I always get sad when blacks fail to realize it’s the system and not the schools. They think that school choice is going to help the lot of blacks without realizing the racist motivation for it in the first place. In a system of white supremacy, whatever schools poor black children go to are going to be “failing schools” because the powers that be will always deny them necessary resources and support. “School choice” just makes it even easier to herd black kids all into the same failing schools.
It’s the white supremacist system that needs to be attacked, not the public schools. The trick (and it’s a tough one, I’ll be the first to admit) is to tackle residential segregation and force the real integration of the public schools along both race and class lines.
Dienne, you might want to take a look at Howard Fuller’s book. He has been Milwaukee Public Schools supt, and worked with a lot of schools and educators around the country. He (and I) would respectfully disagree that “whatever schools poor black children go to are going to be “failing schools”.
There are great examples of outstanding schools, district & charter serving predominantly low income, African American students.
I’d like to offer…I’m in the Principal’s Seat, Now What?
Thanks to Diane and all the contributors to this blog for the excellent additions to my list.