EDUCATION MYTHS
What Special-Interest Groups Want YOU to BELIEVE About our SCHOOLS– AND WHY IT ISN'T SO

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC., 2005
By Jay P.Greene
Foreword by James Q. Wilson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

PART I: RESOURCES

1. The Money Myth—"Schools perform poorly because
they need more money."

2. The Special Ed Myth—"Special education programs
burden public schools, hindering their academic performance."

3. The Myth of Helplessness—"Social problems like poverty
cause students to fail; schools are helpless to prevent it."

4. The Class Size Myth—"Schools should reduce class sizes;
small classes would produce big improvements."

5. The Certification Myth—"Certified or more experienced teachers are substantially more effective."

6. The Teacher Pay Myth—"Teachers are badly underpaid."

PART II: OUTCOMES

7. The Myth of Decline—"Schools are performing
much worse than they used to."

8. The Graduation Myth—"Nearly all students graduate
from high school."

9. The College Access Myth—"Nonacademic barriers
prevent a lot of minority students from attending college."

PART III: ACCOUNTABILITY

10. The High Stakes Myth—"The results of high-stakes tests
are not credible because they're distorted by cheating and teaching to the test."

11. The Push-Out Myth—"Exit exams cause more students to drop out of high school."

12. The Accountability Burden Myth—"Accountability systems impose large financial burdens on schools."

PART IV: CHOICE

13. The Inconclusive Research Myth—"The evidence on the
effectiveness of vouchers is mixed and inconclusive."

14. The Exeter Myth—"Private schools have higher test scores because they have more money and recruit high-performing students while expelling low-performing students."

15. The Draining Myth—"School choice harms public schools."

16. The Disabled Need Not Apply Myth—"Private schools won't serve disabled students."

17. The Democratic Values Myth—"Private schools are less effective at promoting tolerance and civic participation."

18. The Segregation Myth—"Private schools are more racially segregated than public schools."

Conclusion

Notes

Index

About the Authors