The Great Classroom Collapse

Student test scores show that the academic performance of America's schoolchildren in the basic subjects is at record low levels. Despite the excuses offered by public education officials, the COVID-19 pandemic is not the chief culprit. The Great Classroom Collapse investigates the implosion of rigor and learning in schools across the country and identifies key reasons why students cannot read, cannot write, cannot do basic math, and are wholly unprepared for college and the workplace. Those reasons range from schools prioritizing equity and social justice concerns over equality of opportunity and meritocracy; to teaching methods and curricula unsupported by empirical evidence; to teacher training programs that fail to instruct prospective teachers on what really improves student learning; and to bureaucratic adherence to failed education programs. In this book, readers will meet students, parents, K-12 teachers and tutors, college instructors, and policymakers who are experiencing the collapse of learning in America's classrooms and who are fighting to change things for the better. From the Georgia mom and former teacher whose deficient teacher prep education caused tragic consequences for her students to the Southern California engineer who has fought failed reading and math curricula in his children's school to the state legislator who is pushing for schools to provide the foundational reading skills that children need to succeed, this book details the battles going on in state capitals, school districts, and individual classrooms across the nation. In too many places in America, learning in the classroom has collapsed, but this book shows how it can be improved so that our children have a greater opportunity for a successful future.