Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade

by Linda Perlstein

The pressure is on at schools across America. In recent years, reforms such as No Child Left Behind have created a new vision of education that emphasizes provable results, uniformity, and greater attention for floundering students. Schools are expected to behave more like businesses and judged almost solely on the bottom test scores.To see if this world is producing better students, Linda Perlstein immersed herself in a suburban Maryland elementary school. The resulting portrait -- detailed, human, and truly thought-provoking -- is marked by the same narrative gifts and expertise that made Not Much Just Chillin' so illuminating.The school, once deemed a failure, is now held up as an example of reform done right. Perlstein explores the rewards and costs of that transformation, through the experiences of the people who lived it. Nine-year-olds meditate to activate their brains before exams and kindergartners write paragraphs. Teachers attempt to address diverse needs at the same time they are expected to follow daily scripts, and feel compelled to focus on topics that will be tested at the expense of those that won't. The principal attempts to keep it all together, in the face of immense challenges.Perlstein provides the first detailed view of how new education policies are modified by human realities. Tested will be talked about, thought about, written about -- and will almost certainly play an important role in the national debate as the federal education law come up for renewal.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Sociology, Journalism, Parenting, Adult

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2007

About the author

Linda was the first curator of the Amazon Books bricks-and-mortar bookstore chain and managed the nonfiction and lifestyle book selection. Before that she was a freelance book editor and a consultant to several nonprofits and foundations in the fields of K-12 and higher education. She worked at The Washington Post from 1994 to 2004, as a copy editor, graphics editor, and, for most of those years, a staff writer covering education. She is the author of Not Much Just Chillin': The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers and Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade.

From 2008 to 2011, Linda was the Education Writers Association’s first public editor. More than 400 education reporters came to Linda for coaching, and she wrote the Educated Reporter blog. Linda has also written for the Washington Post op-ed page, the New York Times Book Review, Newsweek, Slate, Salon, The Nation, American Prospect, Columbia Journalism Review, and Parents. She has been interviewed on “All Things Considered,” “This American Life,” MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.

A Milwaukee native, Linda received a bachelor's from Wesleyan University and a master's in international affairs from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and son in Seattle.

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is terrifying, and one of the reasons it is so scary is its age: it's ten years old, and the testing world within education has gotten so much crazier in those ten years. I hate standardized testing and how it is ruining education for the most vulnerable American kids even more after reading this book.

The author follows an elementary school for one year, the year after the dynamic principal has gotten the scores on the MSA (a Maryland standardized test) up to passing 85% in reading and 78% in math despite a population of students who are struggling economically, academically, and with transiency, ELL, and myriad home issues. The principal is trying to get the scores to stay up for a second year, and so the author is documenting that process. What is chilling is how much of actual education has to be disregarded in order for the kids to practice for this test - everything fun about school is thrown out until after the test, the kids get terrible test anxiety, and really, doing well on the test benefits their education not at all. There's a brief part where the author goes to another local school, mostly white, upper class, where scores are high and test day is just another day of the year. Those kids are doing all sorts of exploration and imagination and creating and writing and, you know, science and social studies. It made me think of my own school, and how we've mandated these remedial classes that deny kids with lower scores the chance to take electives. And the money in the test-prep industry! It's disgusting, just thinking of the things we could be using that money for as a society.

We're killing education. I wish this book was out-of-date but it is frightening reality for the students who need a real, not-standardized-test-based education the most.

[Hank Stuever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linda's a friend of mine, but even if she wasn't, I was absorbed by this book. My anger built as I became riveted by what this school was doing to itself and its community by trying to meet the bizarro standards of No Child Left Behind -- everyone involved got left behind in some way. This book is precise, observant, and even funny at times -- but not preachy or political.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me so angry! As I read, I want to point fingers and blame people for the problems we face in public education today, but I know I can't. I just know, as a student, that too much emphasis on a standardized test is stupid and irresponsible. It broke my heart to watch Tyler Heights get dragged along by the MSA. The teachers had no choice in how they taught. As I watched this elementary school, I would suddenly remember aspects of my elementary school education that I hadn't thought about in 7 years. My elementary school was more affluent than TH, but we had the same emphasis on TCAPs (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program), which the kids told each other stood for "Torturing Children at Public Schools." Too true, too. Those third graders literally did the same thing 5 times every single day. You couldn't make ME do that for any standardized test. My favorite line in the book: "An honest airing would acknowledge how little the test tells us about students, and it would address the failure of accountability rules to do anything about some the root causes of poor performance in schools: lack of preschool, lack of medical care, poor parent education, impoverished communities." Perlstein describes the situation with clarity, and I could picture everything that was happening; great journalism and great storytelling. Another one to add to my top journalism pieces, along with "The Overachievers." A book I would recommend to anyone.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding and extremely accurate portrayal of the impact that NCLB legislation has had on American schools, particularly in innercity and/or low-income areas. Perlstein (an education journalist) spent a year observing the interactions between teachers and students (and the principal) at Tyler Heights Elementary School, a K-5 public school in Annapolis, MD. The school serves primarily low-income African-Americans and Latinos and I believe it is very representative of what is going on in much of America's classrooms.

As a teacher also operating in a NCLB word, I found that I could relate to a lot of what she observed. I am lucky enough not to be teaching in an environment that is as test-oriented, but much of what she described is a microcosm of what is going on throughout the country. The focus is on preparing kids for "the test," not necessarily for life. Like her, I don't agree that NCLB is really raising expectations. I think, in many ways, it's actually lowering them and hurting our kids. We're teaching to mediocrity in hopes of passing these exams, which have very low requirements for passing in the first place.

Although some reviews said that the book was boring because she spent a lot of time describing how 8-year-olds were being taught the curriculum, that was actually what I really liked about the book. She did a really nice job of accurately describing how curriculum and test prep are taught. I enjoyed hearing about how Open Court works (and why it sometimes doesn't) and also liked learning about DIBELS and the Saxon Math program just as much as I enjoyed reading about BCR ("brief constructed response") instruction and modeling over rand over and over again precisely because that's exactly how those classrooms really function. I think the whole point was to show that some of these education decisions aren't really made with the best interests at heart (despite of what politicians may say about "leaving no child behind"). She really presented a relatively unbiased case for how completely misdirected education policy is. I think there's valid reasons for pushing for accountability but this book shows that the NCLB method is not "it."

I think a lot of teachers would probably get frustrated reading this because of how dead-on Perlstein's accounts of teachers' and students' frustrations are in this book. It resonates way too much not to get kind of angry.

However, I think that one of the main advantages of the book is that it is interesting and engaging enough for non-educators to read so that they may gain some insight into education policy in the NCLB-era. I recommend this to anyone that cares about the future of education.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by this book in a few ways- 1. The book was immensely readable-- more like an extra long magazine piece than a book, that follows one elementary school in Annapolis Maryland, and therefore has a narrative as well as a lot of factual information. 2. I realized about forty pages into the book that I kind of "knew" the principal of the school who was the book's central focus- her son was my class' valedictorian in high school; also, the contrast school they discuss in a couple of chapters is Crofton Elementary, the school which many of my childhood friends attended and many will send their own children to now and in the future. 3. The amount of test prep/ teaching to the test that is done by struggling schools is absolutely insane and though it gets results, I found it, as an educator, very distasteful, sad, and completely depressing. 4. The focus on always bringing lower- skilled kids up to a basic level is one of the most tragic things to happen in American education, as it completely ignores the brightest children who have the most chance to make a difference in our world, if only they were challenged and engaged, rather than bored and checked out. Overall, Perlstein makes great arguments, is completely respectful of the people she writes about, and seems to have a genuine conscience about how testing is a double edged sword in the toolbox of today's education. I believe since the book was written, that some of the mandates of NCLB have been softened, and the 100% emphasis on testing has fallen out of favor; however, the problems with standardized testing persist, as do the issues with prescribed daily curriculum (with scripts even!) and subsequent teacher retention, as veteran teachers as well as hopeful newcomers to the profession seem to completely burn out and feel poorly about what they are asked to do as professional educators in this teach-to-the-test and by-the-book era, where there is no time for creativity or instilling a love of learning into their students. An important, if slightly outdated, read for all people interested in the stakes and effects of constant standardized testing on schools, faculties, and children. Four stars.

[stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

so, i finally settled down and finish this thing. (i kept putting it off because my issues with the DOE/the election NCLB-renewal coming up are making me so upset i had to stay away.)

first: write letters to your congressional representatives. let them know that NCLB is a piece of junk, and you want it out of our schools. it doesn't provide accountability, it only provides numbers that are useless when trying to determine IF A CHILD IS LEARNING.

second: this book is very insightful. it shows one of the highest achieving schools under the NCLB legislation, and the effect on the administration, the students, and the teachers. to read some of the quotes from these THIRD GRADERS absolutely breaks my heart. they have so much pressure on them to take these stupid tests that they literally have breakdowns.

and the class (spoiler alert!) that everyone thought would fail scored 90 on the reading and 90 on the math. the response of their teachers? "that's funny."

because they didn't LEARN anything. they still don't know how to read, they don't know a lot of basic math, but they certainly know how to take the Maryland State Assessment Test. also: a third of the teachers left after the school year - at this amazing, highly achieving elementary school.

it also depresses me how much agency is taken away from the teacher. i'm all for things like pacing calendars, basic curriculum guides, things that absolutely must be learned by the end of the year. but every teacher has their own style, and every kid has their own abilities, and. and this book shows how you can't teach anything - you can't teach social studies or even science. (at least at my school, science gets some time - but at the cost of social studies and ELA.) to read the chapter about teaching after the test is over is incredible. the difference in both the kids, the teachers, what is taught . . .

something has to be done. something needs to change.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A year in the life of an elementary school in Maryland as staff and students prepare for mandatory achievement tests. A fascinating look into the damage wrought by the flawed and underfunded No Child Left Behind Act.

[Ilya Scheidwasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the wake of No Child Left Behind on a Maryland public school in a poverty-stricken region. The author outlines how the school is incentivized by the new education policies to teach to standardized tests at the exclusion of all else, in order to secure more resources for their school, have a good reputation, and avoid penalties. As a result, students are put through mind-numbing and repetitive test drills, failing to engage meaningfully in learning, missing out on fun and enriching activities, and skipping entire subjects such as social studies and science.

The book's laser focus on this one school during a single school year allows us to follow a handful of classes and teachers, especially the third grade class, and get some feeling for what the students and the teachers go through at this school, both due to the students' poverty and due to the effects of the new law. This is nice in a narrative sense, but also frustrated me at times, since it feels like there are some large topics that are not covered in enough detail.

The biggest thing I wish the book had dug into more was the broader impetus for the law. The author makes some eye-opening revelations about the ways in which the law was drafted with little regard for the opinions and insights of educators, as well as the ways in which it was used to benefit school testing and consulting companies whose executives were close to the U.S. President. But we only get enticing glimpses into this world rather than a full discussion. Also, the book juggles an investigation into, specifically, what effect No Child Left Behind had on low-income schools, with a broader look at how low-income schools function and the extreme challenges faced by their students and teachers. It really feels like there should be three books here: one on the law broadly speaking, one on its effects on schools, and one on poverty and public schooling in the U.S.

On the whole, though, the book was an interesting read, and left me curious about how things have changed (or not changed) in the 20 years since.

[Ilse Abisay · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the title of this book, I thought the book will be about the teachers sharing their struggles that they faced and didn’t really consider the struggles of the students.

I found myself feeling mad; sad; upset; and happy by reading this book.

It’s heartbreaking knowing that some of the students did their best to write or read, but they are not there yet and need to go through the test repeatedly. I wanted to cry when I read what one of the students “Marquis” wrote in his journal, “I hat my sof Be cus I Dw Not how to Rit”.

It shows that he also felt stress because he could not read and moment like this stoke fears that a strong academic push for very young children is unsuitable.

I would recommend this book to anyone no matters who they are, they could be a teacher, a parent, or just someone who cares about education in America and the wide world because we need to aware that this type of system is killing the process of learning. We go to school to learn things not to be forced to pass the certain tests that press our capacity of studying in certain strategies.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I worked in an urban school for three years and I can completely relate to the stories in this book. The author spent enough time in this school to really get a sense of what goes on- all the heartache, pain, idiocy, idiosyncrasies, joys, and crazy moments. She also nailed many of the reasons why teachers like me don't stay for very long. It is a sad story of the major challenges schools face and the overly simplistic policies that try to fix a problem without really understanding any of the reasons why they exist. It is worth the read if you want a glimpse into the real world of an urban school. Some of this carries over to suburban schools, but not all.

[Michael Linton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the topic of this book but I found myself drifting off while reading because it focused so much on the details of the school, it was like reading a documentary rather than watching a documentary.

What also confused me is, I understand the point how "No child left behind" has been detrimental to children learning. However, the school the author focused on seemed to have improved. It seemed like that contradicted the point the author was trying to make initially.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the saddest books I've ever read.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I thought it would be, but interesting.

[Tyler Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can check out my review here:

https://youtu.be/qDBJeFaCLlg

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clear example of how standardize testing influences an entire school - from teaching methods, to curriculum content, to student anxiety, and staff morale. It left me feeling like the priorities were completely upside-down. The test results were put ahead of both what was best for the students, and the professional expertise of the teachers.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have noticed that when I rate education books that I’ve read I pretty well default to giving them 4 stars. They may be interesting, but they’re rarely exciting, often repeat conventional wisdom, and are, frankly, on the subject of my work. I may find the book useful to me, but I’m rarely passionate about it.

I’ve got to say, though, that Linda Perlstein far exceeded my expectations with Tested. In the book, she follows a school through a year in which they try to maintain their test scores, despite having the sometimes absurd demands placed upon them (i.e. that all students be average) and despite the huge myriad of troubles that come with trying to teach in a low income community. I do not teach elementary school (I teach high school--my wife does teach elementary), but I can say that she nailed it. Nailed what it is like to teach in this day and age of testing and parents who expect the schools to raise their kids for them.

She covers pretty well everything that schools must deal with--the tremendous discipline struggles, the repetitive and empty curriculums, the intense stress placed on teacher to get students coming from widely different places all to the same place at the same time, the dispiriting effects of trying to teach children who have so little concept of respect, the top down management strategy of large school districts, the ever-new educational fads that take over every couple of years, etc., etc. Perlstein gets what goes on in the schools, and she does it in a very humanizing way. The teachers and the administrators and the students are well-defined and fairly treated. I’m not sure that I learned a lot that was new from reading Tested. Rather, the pleasure of reading it (if pleasure is the right word) was that of recognition--seeing such a cogent treatment and depiction of what I see and experience in schools every day.

When I finished the book, I could pretty well think of no criticisms of it. We live in a democracy, which means that our communities and politicians have a large say in what goes on in schools, rather than the education professionals. I’m not saying that this isn’t as things should be, but unfortunately, I think that a lot of the large decisions our politicians and communities make about schools are extraordinarily uninformed about what actually takes place in schools. Reading Tested would be a good way of finding out.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating take on schools in the wake of No Child Left Behind - specifically schools in poor neighborhoods with large numbers of minority students. Linda Perlstein spent the 2005-06 school year at Tyler Heights Elementary, in Annapolis Maryland, in the wake of the school's 2005 MSA (Maryland School Assesment) test results (85.7% passed in reading, 79.6% in math), which were an incredible turnaround from previous years.

Perlstein spent most of her time with the third grade class, who were going to take the test for the first time (the test is administered to third, fourth, and fifth grades in the elementary school, which is what the book focused on). She was given almost complete access to the school - she sat in on classes and the kids knew her; she attended staff meetings; she joined the guidance counselor on visits to the students' homes as she hunted down children who had been absent. (Ironically, just about the only thing she did not witness was the actual taking of the test, which "the state superintendent and the testing director, in consultation with the attorney general" decided against.)

Perlstein neither condemns nor fully supports No Child Left Behind, and is careful to highlight both its weaknesses and strengths (I must say that there seemed to be considerably more weaknesses), while mostly focusing on the idea that the new trend of teaching to the test will be detrimental to the students in the long run. She also does a great job of pointing out that schools that require teachers to teach to the test (something that often comes with very strict guidelines and regulations of classroom time and methods) tend to lose their best teachers - the ones that are creative and passionate and innovative.

As someone who loved school and the teachers I had, who has substitute taught off and on for the last couple years and considered pursuing education as a career, and who has a parent who works in the education system, I feel very strongly about this subject, and I think Perlstein does a wonderful job with it. It's chock full of insights and telling anecdotes about what it's like to be in a classroom full of children, and you're the one in charge. An enjoyable and educational read, and a book I'm going to have my mother pass around her school.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perlstein is not an educator, but she's as informed on education issues as any writer I've read. Her year at Tyler Heights Elementary in Annapolis begins and ends with the principal nervously learning the test scores for the year. She follows the third grade teachers and students as they prepare for the MSA, the Maryland version of high stakes testing to comply with NCLB...I think the date of publication is important here: 2007. She discusses events from the 2005-06 school year, so she's known the mess we're in for years.

The kids at Tyler are brown and poor. That means the pressure for them to do well on the tests is higher, since they lack all those built-in advantages of white, middle class students. So. So, the principal and her superiors decide to devote the year to test prep...no science or social studies until after the MSA...no field trips, no projects. Kids are tested, benchmarked. They work through mind-numbing Open Court reading and Saxon math. They all read the same stories, no matter what their reading levels, and respond to each story in the same way...one week per story.

Everything is aimed for the week of testing in March. Instead of being able to teach a love of learning and of problem solving, these teachers are trapped...one year of positive scores means MORE is expected.

Perlstein has great sympathy and empathy for these students and teachers. She gently educates her readers about the insanity that is NCLB...the only thing she got wrong is the fact she thought Congress would actually reauthorize and fix the mess. Instead they've kicked the can down the road, dooming more kids to more tests.

I wept for these teachers and these students. This is high-stakes testing at its worst. Kids and teachers are reduced to numbers. Their creative, imaginative lives do not enter the door of Tyler Elementary. The struggles they face outside the school must be irrelevant, unless they impact the almighty test.

Perlstein GETS IT, and I'm eager to read more of her analysis.

[Gabriel Desjardins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll admit that I couldn't finish this book. The analysis of the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on school is interesting, but many pages are spent watching teachers interact with 6- to 8-year-old kids.

I think I've just completely forgotten what it's like to be a little kid, because those sections are jarring. Gone are the days when kids were allowed to be individuals - in class, every kid in this school is required to have both feet on the floor at all times, eyes forward, back straight, etc, etc...I didn't make it to the parts where they punish kids for being bored, but I'm sure they're there.

Elementary school teachers may complain that No Child Left Behind may restrict what they teach, and force them to 'teach to the test.' But it also gives them leeway to crack down on the kids because now failure costs money. I'm guessing they enjoy the additional authority...only one teacher in the book seemed to have doubts, and she was on-board with everybody else after three days...

[Mauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book follows an elementary school in the suburbs of Annapolis, Maryland, where the principal and teachers are struggling to improve the test scores after a surprise success in the previous school year. They are faced with an especially difficult crop of third graders and as the year goes on, the reader wonders how these children could ever hope to pass the test on comparing poems when some can't even read and others can't remember what makes a poem a poem. Personally, I couldn't believe these children had been allowed to pass into third grade.

At the end of the book, when we find out the third graders have not only passed the test, but exceded the scores from the previous year, you are not left with a feeling of triumph, as the principal is, but with one of complete and utter disbelief. The text is clear - these children could not have done what was aksed of them. What does that say about the test? What does that say about the scores?

[James Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many frustrating small stories with these kids! This book does an excellent job of stirring up a lot of emotions: despair, confusion, sympathy, curiosity, inspiration. Overall, it was a balanced treatment of No Child Left Behind -- describing the motivation which seemed legit, but also the shortcomings. The day-to-day in this school really showed how difficult a job teachers have in this elementary school serving a primarily low-income population. Behavior issues abound, parents seem mostly apathetic to their kid's education, and the different personalities of the teachers show how it wears on different people. The impression I come away with from this book is that elementary school education is a difficult problem with differing opinions on steps forward, which makes me feel despair... and also relief that I don't have to deal with it :)

[Emmkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much commentary in the media and elsewhere has dealt with the pitfalls faced by educators and children arising from a proliferation of high stakes, standardized testing. In that sense, Perlstein's book is not 'new news.' But her exploration of the challenges faced by one high needs Maryland school over the course of a year as it seeks to make "Adequate Yearly Progress" under the US' No Child Left Behind Law was eye-opening and nuanced, nonetheless. Perlstein spent time in teachers' classrooms, with the principal, with children, and with parents. She shows how the school culture has come to revolve around the once-yearly test, to the exclusion of much else, and she raises excellent, thought-provoking questions. Very good indeed.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a low-performing elementary school that is, on paper, a big No Child Left Behind success story. On paper is key here, because what the book really explores are the costs of this improvement in test scores, costs to teacher creativity, children's engagement with learning, and any content area that's not on the test (goodbye, science and social studies). I found this book to be well reported, generous, interesting, and, as a parent, more than a little depressing. It may be unfair to ask for solutions, but the big questions unaddressed at the end definitely kept me up last night.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to go ahead and rate this one even though I am not planning to finish it. I have to put this aside because my kid is starting kindergarten next month at a public school, and reading this book has me on the edge of panic, especially since I determined that she'll be using some of the same textbooks that the students and teachers hate so much in the school system that is the subject of this book.

I rate the book very highly: it's a well-researched, very readable indictment of No Child Left Behind. But I need to move on to something that doesn't make me wake up in a cold sweat, contemplating home schooling.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will our school do well this year on the state-mandated tests? That question seems to dominate every decision made in every school in our country these days. Perlstein visits a typical disadvantaged school to take a close look at testing and the day-to-day events in a school that lead up to testing. It is not a happy picture. All the fun activities of school---projects, experiments, student group interaction, even recess---are sacrified at the altar of testing preparation. For this school, the sacrifice pays off; the school does well on the tests. But an observer must ask, At what cost?

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome narrative and a rare inside look into the plight of poverty-stricken schools, and how the "No Child Left Behind" act is hurting these types of schools instead of helping them. This is a must read for all parents and teachers, as well as anyone who thinks they know about education and the Bush administration's policies but haven't bothered to ask actual educators. This book will sadden and infuriate you, and at some points along the way, give you a faint glimmer of hope about the education and parenting of our children.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways, this book reads like a mystery. Will Tyler Heights Elementary, a struggling school, succeed on its state test? While Perlstein hooks you with this question, she pulls you into different classroom settings so that you can decide whether the testing furor is helping or hurting the school's children (or both). This is a good read for anyone interested in figuring out No Child Left Behind or anyone interested in pushing actual public schooling to live up to the ideal.

[Justin Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

It could have used more comparison of the Maryland School Assessment to other statewide tests in the region (the Virginia Standards of Learning are featured briefly) to further flesh out particular deficiencies of the MSA aside from the broader critique of standardized testing regimes that otherwise defines the book. But it's a great book, and it does a great job juggling the various relevant voices and perspectives -- students, teachers, the principal, parents, the policy-makers.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chronicle of a year in the life of a Title 1 school in Annapolis as it prepares for the Maryland Standards Assessments. I came to admire the teachers who struggle in classrooms filled with children who often had parents that were indifferent or occasionally neglectful. For a look at how No Child Left Behind affects today's teachers this is a great read.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody should read this book. If you're a teacher, a parent, or just someone who cares about the education in America, this book is just going to PISS you off. Schools have become nothing but their test scores. I wonder why my students can't do basic math - it's because they aren't taught how to multiply, but how to answer test questions correctly.