Rethinking Schools is a must-read for everyone involved in progressive education -- first-year teachers and seasoned veterans, parents and community activists. Crammed with innovative teaching ideas, compelling resources, analyses of important issues, and organizing, Rethinking Schools is an invaluable source for educators who want to enlist students in thinking deeply and critically about the world today. As education policy increasingly forces schools toward scripted curriculum, excessive testing, and punitive measures, Rethinking Schools provides an alternative vision of schooling, based on the creative commitment of teachers and grounded in students’ daily lives.

Unveils the implications and consequences of teaching phonics via a systematic direct intense program that mandates all children to experience the same scripted lesson at the same time.

Richard Meyer accurately describes what a scripted reading classroom looks like. I have observed in classes like his, and they follow the same format. Meyer points out the dangers of this type of teaching, which eliminates creativity, individuality, and diversity on the part of the teachers and students. Students may learn the skills of reading in these classes, but they do not learn independent or critical thinking strategies. Meyer rightly points out the dangers of scripted instructional programs and the politicians who mandate them.