The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools that Work

In recent years, education has become a battleground upon which different factions have spilled ideological blood over issues such as school vouchers, teacher certification, and standardized testing. In The Right to Learn, leading educational figure Linda Darling-Hammond weighs in with her own views on progressive education. Darling-Hammond is from the old school of liberal education theory--she emphasizes the process of learning rather than testing. She believes that what's wrong with public schools today can, in great measure, be attributed to excessive bureaucratization--administrative red tape--that leaves teachers with little time for teaching. American children do worse than students from other industrialized nations, Darling-Hammond suggests, because the American educational system is predicated on a "factory model" that processes students instead of teaching them.

To create what Darling-Hammond calls "schools that work," she believes teachers must be prepared to collaborate more often and spend more time "teaching for understanding." This means a less programmed curriculum than the one most American schools currently follow, with more time for in-depth interaction between teachers and students, and students and subject matter. Darling-Hammond believes that educational reform starts with allowing teachers to get back to what they do best: teaching.