Publications
Fwd: Opportunities Lost: How New York City got derailed on the way to school reform
Sol Stern / December 3, 2004
How did New York City's experiment in school reform, once so promising, become such a mess? Author Sol Stern explains in this third edition of Fordham's new Fwd: series of short articles of interest to K-12 education reformers.
The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption
Chester E. Finn, Jr. , Diane Ravitch / September 29, 2004
Statewide textbook adoption, the process by which 21 states dictate the textbooks that schools and districts can use, is fundamentally flawed. It distorts the market, entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, enriches the textbook cartel, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials that cannot fulfill their important education mission. Tinkering with it won't set it right, concludes this latest Fordham Institute report. Legislators and governors in adoption states should eliminate the process, letting individual schools, individual districts, or even individual teachers choose their own textbooks.
The Stealth Curriculum: Manipulating America's History Teachers
Sandra Stotsky / April 13, 2004
Widely used supplemental materials may be dangerous to educational health! These works often include hefty doses of political manipulation and ideological bias, courtesy of their authors. This study casts a wary glance toward materials that seldom come under scrutiny. This study is the fifth in a series dedicated to reforming social studies education.
A Consumer's Guide to High School History Textbooks
Diane Ravitch / February 26, 2004
A Consumer's Guide to High School History Textbooks is a summary review of 12 widely used U.S. and world history textbooks.
