The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools That Work [Paperback]

One phrase that caught my eye early on in the book is this one regarding school accountability; "A vicious cycle is launched: the more paperwork teachers are asked to do, the less time they have for teaching; the less time for teaching, the less learning occurs; the less learning, the more the demand for paperwork intended to ensure that teachers are teaching as the bureaucracy insists they should."(p.43) She says here that
the demand for more paperwork which was intended to improve school accountability in reality undermines productivity because it takes time away from planning and teaching well thought out lessons.

Hammond believes that we should strive to teach for understanding more so than covering a lot of curriculum. She strongly believes in the role of professional development in creating depth of understanding in our educators. The chapter that fascinated me the most was on Staffing Schools for Teaching and Learning. She offers several ideas to create smaller class sizes, give teachers more time for planning with their colleagues, as well as taking time for teachers to observe one another. These ideas occur through restructuring the schools and having every certified person in the building teaching at some point in their day and by creating teams that are responsible for a smaller group of students. I felt this could help our site teams think creatively when trying to come up with ways to make class sizes smaller.

Research done by Hammond is included in this book as she searched out "positive deviants" to the difficulties facing public education. Positive deviants meaning schools that found ways to be successful within the same constraints as other
schools. She uses four schools in New York to give examples of schools that are working for creating learning environments that are effective in an age of schools striving to flee the grasp that the factory model of education has traditionally held for
much of the twentieth century. This research is helpful because once again it gives you ideas on how to try things differently to achieve success.

One thing that has been a continual difficulty for me with this book is my lack of ability to retain what Hammond is saying without having to refer back to the book. I am not sure if the reason is because it is so packed with heavy information or if my brain is just on overload by the craziness of the amount I am responsible for in my own classroom, and trying to complete a graduate program. I look forward to our discussions in our literature groups hoping that they will lend some clarity or direction with the book but it is such a mass of information. Perhaps if the book was read slower allowing more time to
digest what it says and then try putting some of the ideas into immediate action, I would be able to retain more of what I am reading. Perhaps this quote hits the nail on the head; "Active learning reflects the old saying, 'I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand." (p. 107) This is a book that will stay nearby so that I can refer back to it, recommend it to others, put its ideas into action and strive toward the belief that all children have the right to learn! It is also an inspiration for educators to stretch ourselves to create a public education system that matches the needs of our time.

She begins by setting it all in perspective, outlining different waves that have swept over public education over the last fifty years. Later, she identifies nine related components that serve to buttress her reform agenda: active in-depth learning organized around common goals; a focus on authentic performance; attention to student development; appreciation of diversity; collaborative learning; a collective perspective within the school; structures for caring; support for democratic learning; and connections to families and to the community.

It sounds obvious, but her clarion writing deserves our attention. Listen to this example: "To engender serious learning, schools must dramatically increase the intellectual opportunities they offer, becoming more focused on developing understanding and competence...becoming more learning-centered as well as learner-centered (p. 32)."

She adeptly sets the double conundrum that many teacher currently face: How can test scores be raised adequately in the while in the clasp of financial, cultural, bureaucratic, systemic chains? But she provides viable solutions.

She explains how to have learning standards without standardization; she calls for increasing students' opportunities-to-learn, making for actual democratic procedures in the classroom; she asserts how schools can re-structure to allow for identifiable learning. This is powerful stuff.

So study this book, and then re-visit it. It's worthy of close scrutiny and it's worthy of action. It needs to be placed into the hands of anyone who cares about education, works within the system, or has children attending public schools. It clearly provides the necessary blueprint for educational reform, as advertised.

This is a data-packed book and a must-read. However, if you are happy with the status-quo, you may want to avoid it.