Chester E. Finn, Jr.'s Books

We Must Take Charge!

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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According to leading education analyst Chester Finn, a paradox lies at the heart of our educational trouble. While Americans commonly acknowledge that public schools in general are a disaster, polls consistently show that most parents, teachers, and administrators think their local schools and their own children are doing just fine. The implications of this self-congratulation are profound. For if people believe their own schools and children are succeeding, why should they feel compelled to change things? Yet, if we don't, we will continue to watch the destruction of a system that already lacks accountability and quality control, and is beset by a teaching profession compromised by bad ideas, fads, buck-passing, dubious theories, and stodgy practices. Fin proposes radical changes which he insists must be championed by all Americans if this atrophy is to be reversed. First and most importantly, he calls on us to reorganize education in relation to the results we want from it. This means establishing a clearcut standard of intellectual achievement that we will oblige all of our schools to enforce and our children to meet. To define this standard, we will need to rebuild instruction around, a national curriculum of core subjects - history, science, geography, math, literature and writing. And we must demand a more detailed flow of useful information, including reliable testing, about how our children are performing in relation to this standard. Finn calls on us to give our children as much time, as many options, and as broad an array of resources as possible. As he points out, learning can take place as easily in July as it does in march, as easily in a museum as it does in a classroom. And if parents have choices in deciding which schools and programs best fit the needs of students, they will have an added incentive in helping their children succeed. He urges us to revitalize the means of delivering education from the bottom up, by vesting as much authority as possible with educators in each individual school and holding them accountable for their performance. For Finn, the implementation of these radical measures is essential to produce not only a knowledgeable twenty-first century work force that will keep our nation competitive, but an informed and reasoning citizenry capable of participating fully in a democracy. Challenging and candid, this book will point the way for all those insisting on the best that our schools can offer.

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390

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439106436

ISBN 13

9781439106433

Troublemaker

A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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Troublemaker

A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Few people have been more involved in shaping postwar U.S. education reforms--or dissented from some of them more effectively--than Chester Finn. Assistant secretary of education under Ronald Reagan, and an aide to politicians as different as Richard Nixon and Daniel Moynihan, Finn has also been a high school teacher, an education professor, a prolific and best-selling writer, a think-tank analyst, a nonprofit foundation president, and both a Democrat and Republican. This remarkably varied career has given him an extraordinary insider's view of every significant school-reform movement of the past four decades, from racial integration to No Child Left Behind. In Troublemaker, Finn has written a vivid history of postwar education reform that is also the personal story of one of the foremost players--and mavericks--in American education. Finn tells how his experiences have shaped his changing views of the three major strands of postwar school reform: standards-driven, choice-driven, and profession-driven. Of the three, Finn now believes that a combination of choice and standards has the greatest potential, but he favors this approach more on pragmatic than ideological grounds, arguing that parents should be given more options at the same time that schools are allowed more flexibility and held to higher performance norms. He also explains why education reforms of all kinds are so difficult to implement, and he draws valuable lessons from their frequent failure. Clear-eyed yet optimistic, Finn ultimately gives grounds for hope that the best of today's bold initiatives--from charter schools to technology to makeovers of school-system governance--are finally beginning to make a difference.

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377

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

140082821X

ISBN 13

9781400828210

The Educated Child

A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,John T. E. Cribb, Jr.,William J. Bennett

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The Educated Child

A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,John T. E. Cribb, Jr.,William J. Bennett

If you care about the education of a child, you need this book. Comprehensive and easy to use, it will inform, empower, and encourage you. Just as William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues has helped millions of Americans teach young people about character, The Educated Child delivers what you need to take control. With coauthors Chester E. Finn, Jr., and John T. E. Cribb, Jr., former Secretary of Education Bennett provides the indispensable guide. Championing a clear "back-to-basics" curriculum that will resonate with parents and teachers tired of fads and jargon, The Educated Child supplies an educational road map from earliest childhood to the threshold of high school. It gives parents hundreds of practical suggestions for helping each child succeed while showing what to look for in a good school and what to watch out for in a weak one. The Educated Child places you squarely at the center of your young one's academic career and takes a no-nonsense view of your responsibilities. It empowers you as mothers and fathers, enabling you to reclaim what has been appropriated by "experts" and the education establishment. It out-lines questions you will want to ask, then explains the answers -- or non-answers -- you will be given. No longer will you feel powerless before the education "system." The tools and advice in this guide put the power where it belongs -- in the hands of those who know and love their children best. Using excerpts from E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Sequence, The Educated Child sets forth a state-of-the art curriculum from kindergarten through eighth grade that you can use to monitor what is and isn't being taught in your school. It outlines how you can help teachers ensure that your child masters the most important skills and knowledge. It takes on today's education controversies from phonics to school choice, from outcomes-based education to teaching values, from the education of gifted children to the needs of the disabled. Because much of a youngster's education takes place outside the school, The Educated Child also distills the essential information you need to prepare children for kindergarten and explains to the parents of older students how to deal with such challenges as television, drugs, and sex. If you seek high standards and solid, time-tested content for the child you care so much about, if you want the unvarnished truth about what parents and schools must do, The Educated Child is the one book you need on your shelf.

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689

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0743200918

ISBN 13

9780743200912

Charter Schools in Action

Renewing Public Education

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,Bruno V. Manno,Gregg Vanourek

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Charter Schools in Action

Renewing Public Education

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,Bruno V. Manno,Gregg Vanourek

Can charter schools save public education? This radical question has unleashed a flood of opinions from Americans struggling with the contentious challenges of education reform. There has been plenty of heat over charter schools and their implications, but, until now, not much light. This important new book supplies plenty of illumination. Charter schools--independently operated public schools of choice--have existed in the United States only since 1992, yet there are already over 1,500 of them. How are they doing? Here prominent education analysts Chester Finn, Bruno Manno, and Gregg Vanourek offer the richest data available on the successes and failures of this exciting but controversial approach to education reform. After studying one hundred schools, interviewing hundreds of participants, surveying thousands more, and analyzing the most current data, they have compiled today's most authoritative, comprehensive explanation and appraisal of the charter phenomenon. Fact-filled, clear-eyed, and hard-hitting, this is the book for anyone concerned about public education and interested in the role of charter schools in its renewal. Can charter schools boost student achievement, drive educational innovation, and develop a new model of accountability for public schools? Where did the idea of charter schools come from? What would the future hold if this phenomenon spreads? These are some of the questions that this book answers. It addresses pupil performance, enrollment patterns, school start-up problems, charges of inequity, and smoldering political battles. It features close-up looks at five real--and very different--charter schools and two school districts that have been deeply affected by the charter movement, including their setbacks and triumphs. After outlining a new model of education accountability and describing how charter schools often lead to community renewal, the authors take the reader on an imaginary tour of a charter-based school system. Charter schools are the most vibrant force in education today. This book suggests that their legacy will consist not only of helping millions of families obtain a better education for their children but also in renewing American public education itself.

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301

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400823412

ISBN 13

9781400823413

Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut

By: Chester E. Finn (Jr.)

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Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut

By: Chester E. Finn (Jr.)

Prekindergarten is one of the most hotly contested topics in American education today. The author looks at recent social and educational changes that have brought unprecedented attention to school readiness, the hazy boundary between preschool and child care, and the extent to which American youngsters already have access to various pre-K services. He then examines the shaky state of standards and quality in this field and the largely inconclusive nature of research and evidence as to "what works" with young children. After reviewing of two of America's most prominent examples of universal pre-K education in Florida and Oklahoma and looking at the four-decade-old Head Start Program, he tackles the matter of costs and benefits and the fractious issue of alternative delivery systems before offering some conclusions and ideas for the path ahead.

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169

Publisher

Hoover Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0817949925

ISBN 13

9780817949921

Troublemaker

A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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Troublemaker

A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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377

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

140082821X

ISBN 13

9781400828210

We Must Take Charge!

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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We Must Take Charge!

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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390

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439106436

ISBN 13

9781439106433

How to Educate an American

The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow's Schools

By: Michael J. Petrilli,Chester E. Finn

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How to Educate an American

The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow's Schools

By: Michael J. Petrilli,Chester E. Finn

In the years after A Nation at Risk, conservatives’ ideas to reform America’s lagging education system gained much traction. Key items like school choice and rigorous academic standards drew bipartisan support and were put into practice across the country. Today, these gains are in retreat, ceding ground to progressive nostrums that do little to boost the skills and knowledge of young people. Far from being discouraged, however, conservatives should seize the moment to refresh their vision of quality K–12 education for today’s America. These essays by 20 leading conservative thinkers do just that. Students, according to this vision, should complete high school with a thorough understanding of the country’s history, including gratitude for its sacrifices, respect for its achievements, and awareness of its shortcomings. They should also learn to be trustworthy stewards of a democratic republic, capable of exercising virtue and civic responsibility. Beyond helping to form their character, schools ought to ready their pupils for careers that are productive, rewarding, and dignified. Excellent technical-training opportunities will await those not headed to a traditional college. Regardless of the paths and schools that they select, all students must come to understand that they can succeed in America if they are industrious, creative, and responsible. Anchored in tradition yet looking towards tomorrow, How to Educate an American should be read by anyone concerned with teaching future generations to preserve the country’s heritage, embody its universal ethic, and pursue its founding ideals.

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305

Publisher

Templeton Foundation Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1599475707

ISBN 13

9781599475707

Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Challenges and Choices for NAEP

By: Chester E. Finn

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Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Challenges and Choices for NAEP

By: Chester E. Finn

Assessing the Nation’s Report Card examines the history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and outlines plans for improving and modernizing the organization. Educational policy analyst Chester E. Finn, Jr. imparts a rare inside analysis of the evolution of the NAEP program at key moments in its history, and provides a firsthand perspective of crucial decisions and core goals that have helped shape it. The result is a revealing survey of the US’s most influential source of data on K–12 achievement. Assessing the Nation’s Report Card offers readers an in-depth understanding and appreciation of NAEP as well as an examination of its shortcomings, its controversies, and its current issues. The book explores why NAEP is considered the gold standard of educational assessments yet is much lesser known than other types of standardized testing. Finn underscores the promise of applying the results in addressing achievement gaps, boosting federal accountability, and driving education reform and policy. He also discloses how the data are collected and what the results can and cannot tell us. For more than 50 years, this ambitious federal testing program has informed the decisions of policy makers and educational leaders as they advocate for educational improvements in the US. Acknowledging the nation’s evolving need for actionable information about students and schools, Finn provides an assured and rare overview of the existing program and proposes possibilities for the future.

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259

Publisher

Harvard Education Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1682537269

ISBN 13

9781682537268

Learning in the Fast Lane

The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,Andrew E. Scanlan

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Learning in the Fast Lane

The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,Andrew E. Scanlan

More than three million high-school students take five million Advanced Placement exams each May, yet remarkably little is known about how this sixty-year-old, privately-run program, has become one of U.S. education's greatest successes. From its mid-century origin as a tiny option for privileged kids from posh schools, AP has also emerged as a booster rocket into college for hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged youngsters. It challenges smart kids, affects school ratings, affords rewarding classroom challenges to great teachers, tunes up entire schools, and draws vast support from philanthropists, education reformers and policymakers. AP stands as America's foremost source of college-level academics for high school pupils. Praised for its rigor and integrity, more than 22,000 schools now offer some-or many-of its thirty-eight subjects, from Latin to calculus, art to computer science. But challenges abound today, as AP faces stiffening competition (especially dual credit), curriculum wars, charges of elitism, misgivings by elite schools and universities, and the arduous work of infusing rigor into schools that lack it and academic success into young people unaccustomed to it. In today's polarized climate, can Advanced Placement maintain its lofty standards and overcome the hostility, politics and despair that have sunk so many other bold education ventures? Advanced Placement: The Unsung Success Story of American Education is a unique account-richly documented and thoroughly readable-of the AP program in all its strengths and travails, written by two of America's most respected education analysts"--

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292

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691216916

ISBN 13

9780691216911

Exam Schools

Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools

By: Chester E. Finn,Jessica A. Hockett

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Exam Schools

Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools

By: Chester E. Finn,Jessica A. Hockett

In this book the authors discuss academically selective public high schools as a way to give exceptionally able and high achieving youngsters the best education possible, while strengthening the United States' future intellectually leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity.

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264

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691156670

ISBN 13

9780691156675

What Do Our 17-year-olds Know?

A Report on the First National Assessment of History and Literature

By: Diane Ravitch,Chester E. Finn (Jr.)

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What Do Our 17-year-olds Know?

A Report on the First National Assessment of History and Literature

By: Diane Ravitch,Chester E. Finn (Jr.)

A report on the results of a test of 17-year-olds' knowledge of history and literature in the United States.

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308

Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

0060158492

ISBN 13

9780060158491

The Educated Child

A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,John T. E. Cribb, Jr.,William J. Bennett

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The Educated Child

A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr.,John T. E. Cribb, Jr.,William J. Bennett

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689

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Simon and Schuster

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0743200918

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9780743200912

Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Challenges and Choices for NAEP

By: Chester E. Finn

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Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Challenges and Choices for NAEP

By: Chester E. Finn

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259

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Harvard Education Press

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1682537269

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9781682537268

Book's by Chester E. Finn, Jr.

We Must Take Charge!

We Must Take Charge!

Troublemaker

Troublemaker

The Educated Child

The Educated Child

Charter Schools in Action

Charter Schools in Action

Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut

Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut

Troublemaker

Troublemaker

We Must Take Charge!

We Must Take Charge!

How to Educate an American

How to Educate an American

Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Learning in the Fast Lane

Learning in the Fast Lane

Exam Schools

Exam Schools

What Do Our 17-year-olds Know?

What Do Our 17-year-olds Know?

The Educated Child

The Educated Child

Assessing the Nation's Report Card

Assessing the Nation's Report Card

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