From: bernie@binghamton.edu
Date sent: Wed, 5 Feb 1997 17:59:51 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Important Book

I have just finished reading a book that I think makes an important contribution to the school reform debate. It is entitled BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: WHY SCHOOL REFORM HAS FAILED AND WHAT PARENTS NEED TO DO (Simon & Schuster, 1996). Its author is Laurence Steinberg, but it contains the results of 10 years of research by the author and 2 others, all university profs.

The book's stance is that current reforms will continue to fail no matter how much money is thrown at them. The reasons for poor student achievement will not be found primarily in political or educational bodies, but beyond the classroom, outside the school, in peer groups, homes, and communities. It is here that the main obstacles are to be found, for it is here that student attitudes toward school and learning are developed. The researchers spent 10 years interviewing and working with 20,000 students and their families in 9 very different American communities in California and Wisconsin. The focus was primarily on high school students.

The study concentrates on the differences in student interest in school and learning. It found that the truly engaged student is in school emotionally as well as physically. Student engagement in school is an "indicator of children's commitment not only to education but to goals and values held by adult society." Students alienated from school are more likely to have psychological problems, such as use of illegal substances, etc.

Early in chapter I the study presents some "alarming findings." These are: (1) "An extremely high proportion of American high school students do not take school, or their studies, seriously. (2) American students' time out of school is seldom spent in activities that reinforce what they are learning in their classes. More typically, their time and energy is focused on activities that compete with, rather than complement, their studies. (3) The adolescent peer culture in contemporary America demeans academic success and scorns students who try to do well in school. Schools are fighting a losing battle against a peer culture that disparages academic success. (4) Perhaps most serious, American parents are just as disengaged from schooling as their children are."

Other findings: Peers are more influential than parents in influencing achievement. Just about half the students are disengaged. Sixty percent of the typical school day is devoted to non-academics. Evidence clearly shows that the achievement drop is genuine, substantial, and pervasive across ethnic, socioeconomic, and age groups. School reform is not the solution. There is a real possibility that student achievement would have risen had we not tried to tinker with the existing system. Studies show quite persuasively that children achieve more when they attend schools that stress intellectual activities and are organized around a common purpose. Some conservative critics argue [legitimately] that eliminating a lot of the extras would simultaneously raise achievement and save money. The discussion [debate] has focused on schools, when it should have focused on students. WHAT HAS CHANGED IN THE PAST 3 DECADES - THE PERIOD DURING WHICH OUR ACHIEVEMENT PROBLEM BECAME MOST SEVERE - HAS NOT BEEN OUR SCHOOLS, BUT OUR STUDENTS' LIVES OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL. CHANGING OUR SCHOOLS TO RESPOND TO A LESS INTERESTED, LESS MOTIVATED, LESS FOCUSED STUDENT POPULACE DOES LITTLE TO ADDRESS THE BASIC UNDERLYING PROBLEM - THE LACK OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT. What Americans have become is not less intelligent, but less interested in being educated. It is clear that for a very large proportion of students in this country, school is little more than a gathering place where they congregate in order to mingle with their friends. 40% of students merely go through the motion of attending school, 2/3 cheated on a test during the past year, 9 of 10 have copied homework, while 40% of the time spent in school can be called academic, only 15% of a student's weekly time is spent on learning activities.

To try and summarize the final recommendations would take too long. But here is part of the conclusion:

"It is time we faced the music: 15 years of school reform has not really accomplished anything. Today's students know less, and can do less, than their counterparts could 25 years ago. Our high school graduates are among the least intellectually competent in the industrialized world....Given the findings of our study, it is not difficult to understand why so many students coast through school without devoting very much energy to schoolwork. As things stand, there is little reason for the majority of students to exert themselves any more than is necessary to avoid failing, being held back, or not graduating....In my view, the failure of the school reform movement to reverse the decline in achievement is due to its emphasis on reforming schools and classrooms, and its general disregard of the contributing forces that, while outside the boundaries of the school, are probably more influential."

Perhaps the best way to give an idea of the contents of the book is by giving chapter titles: I. The Real Problem; II. A Nation at Risk, A nation in Denial; III. School Reform is Not the Solution; IV. Disengaged Students; V. Ethnicity and Adolescent Achievement; VI. The Power of Authoritative Parenting; VII. The Home Environment of Academically Successful Students; VIII. The Power of Peers; IX. All Work and All Play Makes Jack a Dumb Boy; X. Beyond the Classroom.

Bernie