What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten?

Standards and high-stakes testing issues create strange bedfellows: Many conservative parents are against the tests on the grounds of too much federal intrusion and too many "liberal agendas" in the content; so-called liberal parents object to the idea of this type of test as a matter of principle. Both groups decry the way the tests have distorted curriculum and changed the values of kids. The bottom line is: There is no one, right or left who doesn't advocate some type of educational reform when it comes to standards. What Happened to Recess and Why is My Child Struggling in Kindergarten? will analyze the mania for testing children, explaining why a child's passing from fourth to fifth grade, or receiving a high school diploma, depends upon a set of tests. The book will also explain what parents who are joined in grass roots movements around the country are doing to empower themselves, change public policy on education, and protect their children. The audience is parents who want an insider's view of the educational system, and teachers and administrators who want to know how to explain these issue to parents when they ask. The book is anecdotal, drawing on the author's 20 years of classroom experience, teaching every grade from first through college. The focus is children and how they are often hurt by the politics surrounding testing; even children who are able test takers, are hurt by the distortions to the curriculum. The book will document the ways schools have become mills for training students to pass tests: In Texas, TAAS is the curriculum; in Atlanta, in the name of increasing skills, children no longer have recess; in some New York schools, reading aloud is forbidden as a waste of time, and so on.