Choosing Excellence: Good Enough Schools Are Not Good Enough

This outstanding assessment of the current state of the nation's schools is the culmination of Merrow's 25 years as an education reporter. Based on ""School Sleuth: The Case of an Excellent School,"" a program for his PBS series The Merrow Report (which also airs on NPR), this book explores ""good enough"" schools, the ones that ""most people settle for: schools everyone wants to believe are okay even though, deep down, they know better."" Merrow aims here to help parents and others who are ""determined to push and pull the system beyond `good enough.'"" To that end, he examines various aspects of schooling from testing and homework to safety, values and technology drawing on years of school visits and interviews. Merrow weighs in on the current infatuation with ""machine-scored"" tests; teacher burnout (""we train teachers poorly and then treat them badly and so they leave in droves"") and how it can be prevented; charter schools (""buyer beware""); the explosive growth of ADD (""a dubious diagnosis""); bloated administrative bureaucracy and much more. Writing lucidly throughout, he keeps his primary audience parents clearly in mind, offering, at the end of each chapter, helpful checklists for evaluating prospective schools (e.g., ""Are papers marked up with thoughtful comments?""; ""How serious is the school about art and music programs?""). Practical, forthright and engaging, Merrow's book should be required reading for every parent of a school-age child and for anyone who wants to see public education move beyond ""good enough."" (Apr.) Forecast: Since most children in America attend ""good enough"" schools, this book's potential market is enormous, and the author's high profile will help.