Description
Book SynopsisThe Malfunction of US Education Policy: Elite Misinformation, Disinformation, and Selfishness biased and inefficient information dissemination that has degraded US education research and policy since the year 2001, when a series of unfortunate disruptions began:
- first, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and federal imposition of an idiosyncratic and ineffectual testing program;
- second, the big bang reorganization of the US education testing industry from a stable, cooperative oligopoly run by psychometricians to a commercially competitive free-for-all with more opportunist and customer-pleasing ambitions; and
- third, the Common Core standards, which mandated homogenous lower content standards onto the still required NCLB testing structure.
Billions from the federal government and wealthy foundations have transformed many once-independent national education organizations into cargo cult dependents and promoters of the new order, intolerant of di
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Do not be deceived by the title of this book into thinking that it should only be of interest to those focused on education policy. It is a clear-eyed analysis of how bad incentives, well-intentioned defense of free speech, and scholarly cartels are a recipe for a toxic brew of misinformation. Phelps' book is a must-read for anyone concerned with how we engage in the Sisyphean task of growing closer to the truth—and that should be all of us.
-- Ivan Oransky, Editor in Chief, Spectrum; Co-Founder, Retraction Watch
I am delighted to see that Richard Phelps has written this particularly well-supported and thoughtful assessment of relatively recent national education reform efforts and the paucity of objective evidence of their, in the language of medicine, efficacy and toxicity. No one has a better demonstrated record writing about and giving voice to knowledgeable early critics of some of these efforts that never seem to be willing to allow anything but fawning praise until they are replaced with the next shiny object. Well studied traditional assessments of educational progress of students are dismissed as being inappropriate for these new and improved innovations. Regrettably, education writers are not nearly as knowledgeable nor as critical as their role should imply. Their work almost appears to have been written by the reformers themselves as opposed to objective neutral observers.
-- Wayne Bishop, Professor of Mathematics, California State University Los Angeles
As a college professor, I've seen the long-term effects of the dominance of certain flawed education policies on the poor preparedness of students by the time they reach college. Why? The ability of a person or groups of people, they are academics, but I won't call them scholars, to promote themselves and their ideas to the suppression of contrary but important works are behind our failing system of public K-12 education. Dr. Phelps, a distinguished expert in the field of standardized testing, clearly and persuasively reveals how the effective obliteration of contrary and essential scholarly work by "education cartels" has brought us to a dangerous point in American education. This book serves as a wake-up call to scholars, policy makers, and parents.
-- Therese Ann Markow, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of California San Diego
Richard Phelps’ latest publication (The Malfunction of U.S. Education Policy) addresses a badly needed topic—testing, or as is the actual thrust of much current education policy writing, anti-testing. Phelps’ book explains why the social sciences in particular do not provide a sturdy foundation for much if not most education policy today. Readers may find the claim that “no previous research” on important details exists. Thus, society and science are impoverished if not damaged by a truncated process for specific education policies that may reflect laziness or excessive reliance on one academic “celebrity” or publication.
-- Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita, University of Arkansas
Table of ContentsPreface: Protecting Endangered Theses
Introduction:The Cartel Alliance and Honest Terminology
Chapter 1. The View from 2001
Chapter 2. The Triumph of Strategic Scholarship
Chapter 3. The Education Establishment Cartel
Chapter 4. Linchpin of the Cartel Alliance: Koretz, Cannell, and the Ghost of Test Security
Chapter 5. The Education Reform Cartel
Chapter 6. A Dense Web of Common Core Confederates
Chapter 7. The Permanent Education Press: A Breed Apart
Chapter 8. The View from 2022
Conclusion: When What is Left Out is More Important
About the Author
