Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent
discussion-list post "Sizer's Schools: Solution to Substandard
Secondary Schooling?" [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
***********************************************
ABSTRACT: I have found that few high-school teachers are aware of the
exemplary work of the late Theodore Sizer <http://bit.ly/Naxiso> and
his "Coalition of Essential Schools <http://bit.ly/NI96vo>. I suspect
that they, like Horace, the high-school English teacher in Sizer's
classic 1984 "Horace's Compromise" <http://amzn.to/NRt86z>, are so
overworked and underpaid that they have little time for anything but
meeting their classes, grading papers, and putting food on the table.
At the time of Sizer's death in 2009, Patrick J. McQuillan
<http://bit.ly/MvQyKI> wrote an insightful eulogy to Sizer in an
"Education Week" article titled "What Ted Sizer Meant to Us" at
<http://bit.ly/NUB4E9> which concluded:
"With the passing of Ted Sizer, progressive educators have an
opportunity to reflect on and reinvigorate American education with a
commitment to ensuring that all students are known and held to high
standards, that we create conditions which allow teachers to realize
these ideals, and that America becomes a more informed, more caring,
and more thoughtful nation."
Those who wish to dig deeper into the heroic efforts of Ted Sizer to
improve high-school education in the U.S. might be interested in the
7 books preceded by a double asterisk ** in the REFERENCE list of the
complete post.
***********************************************
"Reform efforts must move beyond today's narrow habit of conceiving
education as only something that adults formally 'deliver' to
children in classrooms."
- Ted Sizer (2003)
REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 15 July 2012.
Hake, R.R. 2012. "Sizer's Schools: Solution to Substandard Secondary
Schooling?" online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/MrTa2B>. Post of 15 Jul 2012 13:03:40-0700 to AERA-L
and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post were
transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/Nrnxla> with a provision for
comments.
Sizer, T. 2003. "Two Reports: The reason for disappointing results is
likely to be found less in the schools and to be largely due to the
manner and settings in which contemporary youths grow up. ... Context
counts," Education Week, 23 April; online to subscribers at
<http://bit.ly/PWO6nb>.