Many parents have asked themselves at one time or another, "Why is my child not learning much this year in school?" This is what Laurie H. Rogers asked about four years ago and then set out to answer for herself. Betrayed is the result of her journey. Laurie's research leaves no stone unturned, no question unasked. Her documentation is meticulous and thorough and unique in its scope and depth. She writes eloquently in a clear and easily understandable style. Her conclusions are inescapable, surprising, and at times shocking. Everyone, from parents, taxpayers, educators, and grandparents to politicians, teachers, and business owners should read this book to find out how desperately we need workable methods based on valid research for educating the children of our nation. We all have a great stake in this, for without a well-educated populace, democracy cannot survive. Our nation cannot prosper economically and globally without engineers, scientists, mathematicians, doctors, teachers, and knowledgeable parents. Laurie has chosen to boldly go where few have dared - into the inner workings of the United States educational systems, from local level, beginning with Spokane Public Schools, to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Washington, to the federal level, including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education. One woman's desire to find answers has provided the rest of us with the knowledge to become wise and courageous champions of truly great and sound education for all.
Laurie Rogers has aptly titled her book Betrayed. Millions of families in this country send their students off to school believing that their children will be carefully taught all they need to know to be successful in whichever future endeavor theychoose to pursue. No one wants to believe that education decisions are often based more on failed ideology rather than scientifically proven successful models of instruction. Yet, that is what is happening, and as a result, our graduates now lag the restof the industrialized world in math and science achievement. Read this book to find out how this has happened. You will feel betrayed by the public education establishment...
Betrayed is one parent's first-hand account from the math wars at Spokane Public Schools in Washington State. This compelling portrayal reveals why public education bureaucrats deliver such poor academic outcomes for students: 1) lack of school choices for parents; 2) lack of professional autonomy for teachers and school principals; 3) broken accountability systems and 4) no lack of money.
We are taught to trust those in authority: The police on the corner, the doctor at the hospital, and the schools with our children's future. When one of these trusted entities makes a choice that is harmful to us or to our children, we feel angry, we feel cheated, and we feel "betrayed." Teachers, and parents: Prepare yourself to be amazed, confused and angry as you read this book. You will be amazed by the statistics showing that more than 90% of our high school graduates are unprepared for college entry-level math. You will be confused to find administrators and school boards continuing to support a curriculum that is failing our students. You will be angry when you read the responses to parent questions; responses of disdain, the runarounds and the lies from people entrusted with our children's education. Betrayed shares a concerned parent's journey seeking a math curriculum to challenge and prepare her child for college. After many years of research, meetings and interviews with school teachers, university professors, principals, superintendents and school boards - this parent's advocacy for a stronger math curriculum for one child became a mission to help a whole district full of children. Laurie Rogers' Betrayed is a rare book with a message for any parent or teacher seeking to challenge or influence administrators and school boards. Mrs. Rogers' words will inspire and empower all who read them to join her advocacy for a curriculum that truly provides students with the skills they need to be successful.
elementary school teacher
Betrayed is a passionate, nuanced, and informative investigation of America's public schools by a seasoned parent activist. Based on her experiences with Washington State's schools and education bureaucracies, Laurie Rogers has produced a how-to guidebook with valuable insights and advice for parents, teachers, and others who seek to improve education.
Laurie Rogers has written an important book - it has passion, it has direction, and it has hope. All ingredients of a good read, but the topic is too important for just emoting, and this book has evidence, defensible interpretations, and weaves together a story about the status and future of schooling in the US. The problem with our current education models is that we are so good at fixing them. Name a problem and there are a plethora of fixes - but most of these fixes are just that - good ideas not grounded in evidence. Further, most good ideas are fixing the problems of a system that will not serve the needs of today's and tomorrow's wired-up students who need more flexibility, evaluation skills, and connections between knowledge than we did when we left school. The book has many positive messages for enhancing American schools. It starts from the premise that we are changing a failing system, and if anything is agreed in schooling it is that teachers are now used to change - indeed becoming immune to change. So much is promulgated and nothing much changes in classrooms, but the policies, tests, systems and compliance increase. A major part of this is because we set the bar of success so low - we too often ask "Has this policy/change had a positive impact on learning?" Indeed almost every change can be shown to work if this low standard is accepted. We need to raise the bar about acceptability, and then so much will be shown to be ineffectual and holding back those already making very positive impacts in classrooms. Aim for meaningful and defensible changes based on what can be shown to work best. Stop inventing excuses, stop engaging in deficit thinking, and stop fixing that which matters least. There is much positive thinking throughout. Laurie Rogers recognizes a commitment to improvement, and she identifies four critical problems that should be the focus of our debates: teacher's ability to teach, curriculum, learning environment, and students' propensity to learn. From these four she mounts a c
As our local schools, as well as schools across the nation, continue to turn out poorly educated graduates, you may wonder, "Who's driving the bus?" Who has the power in public education to do something to fix this mess? Laurie Rogers' thoroughly researched book Betrayed: How the education establishment has betrayed America, and what you can do about it will open your eyes to a bewildering array of state and federal bureaucracies, tainted educational research and government-influenced textbook publishing, which exert a controlling influence over local school districts. Local school officials, marching lockstep with state and federal politicians, are looking to a future of federally funded and federally controlled schools. If you want local schools for your children and your community, you're going to have to fight for them. Laurie Rogers' book is loaded with information and insights, which you will find extremely useful in this fight.
Wow! If parents, grandparents, voters, teachers, and anyone else concerned with American education read this book, maybe the realization that things aren't what they could be would hit home. The statistics and lack of continuity in the education system are at a crossroads between experimenting with our youth and providing them with a solid foundation to continue to build this country into what we have been for the last 250 years. Because administrators and politicians change directions chasing a better mouse trap, we lose sight of the fact that math, science, geography, reading and writing are fundamentally the same as they have been for centuries. Change, for change's sake - and without having a control group to know whether we are gaining or losing ground - seems to be the norm. This book points in every way that we are losing ground. I fully endorse the book and applaud the author for the factual research and perseverance that went into the information that was compiled.
Through astonishing facts and statistics, Laurie paints a commonsense picture of why American public education is failing to produce a competitive population. Through her tireless research and commitment to unveiling the truth for our children and our future, she clearly delineates the strengths and weaknesses within the current system and how we got here, and she outlines what all of us need to do to begin making repairs. This is a truth every parent and teacher must know for the sake of our kids and our nation.
In Betrayed , Rogers lays bare the fiction that is reform math. Until parents across this nation vest themselves with the information found in these pages, rise up against the edu-speak that keeps reform math in place, and insist that educators TEACH mathematics, the devastation of reform math will continue to shortcut the hopes and dreams of the nation's children.
Laurie Rogers' Betrayed is a must read for parents, teachers, and policy makers with an interest in mathematics education and the controversies surrounding how children are taught this critical topic. Rogers identifies the core of this controversy and provides incisive critiques of many popular approaches to mathematics education.
Betrayed is a rare book on this country's educational problems. It offers the perspective of a parent committed to the preservation of public education. Parents are the most important group of stakeholders in our public schools. Yet, it is hard tofind an education school in the country that requires prospective school administrators to read what a parent sees as the problems in our public schools, especially in the math class. Betrayed belongs on the syllabus of every course (and professional development workshop) on school and community relations that school administrators are required to take for certification or a salary increase.
We are taught to trust those in authority: The police on the corner, the doctor at the hospital, and the schools with our children's future. When one of these trusted entities makes a choice that is harmful to us or to our children, we feel angry, we feel cheated, and we feel "betrayed." Teachers, and parents: Prepare yourself to be amazed, confused and angry as you read this book. You will be amazed by the statistics showing that more than 90% of our high school graduates are unprepared for college entry-level math. You will be confused to find administrators and school boards continuing to support a curriculum that is failing our students. You will be angry when you read the responses to parent questions; responses of disdain, the runarounds and the lies from people entrusted with our children's education. Betrayed shares a concerned parent's journey seeking a math curriculum to challenge and prepare her child for college. After many years of research, meetings and interviews with school teachers, university professors, principals, superintendents and school boards - this parent's advocacy for a stronger math curriculum for one child became a mission to help a whole district full of children. Laurie Rogers' Betrayed is a rare book with a message for any parent or teacher seeking to challenge or influence administrators and school boards. Mrs. Rogers' words will inspire and empower all who read them to join her advocacy for a curriculum that truly provides students with the skills they need to be successful.
Betrayed is a rare book on this country's educational problems. It offers the perspective of a parent committed to the preservation of public education. Parents are the most important group of stakeholders in our public schools. Yet, it is hard tofind an education school in the country that requires prospective school administrators to read what a parent sees as the problems in our public schools, especially in the math class. Betrayed belongs on the syllabus of every course (and professional development workshop) on school and community relations that school administrators are required to take for certification or a salary increase.
Laurie Rogers has written an important book - it has passion, it has direction, and it has hope. All ingredients of a good read, but the topic is too important for just emoting, and this book has evidence, defensible interpretations, and weaves together a story about the status and future of schooling in the US.
