Vicki Abeles

In Beyond measure, Vicki Ables hits the nail right on the head. Our children are being overtested and overscheduled in our schools. Even kindergartners are now expected to read and do math at an ever-increasing pace and their "scores' are used to impact teacher evaluations. Creativity and spontaneity and engaging students in a multitude of methods is declining. Given the pressures of today's world and the fears we parents have for our children it is understandable that we have only begun to question this direction but Ms Abeles, clearly and concisely, raises the bar for all of us. As she states, we must protect our students from this phenomenon and stop the testing madness and the increased focus on doing whatever it takes for our children to get into college even if it is to their detriment. As a parent of a middle school child I feel its effects in her and her classmates and schools.

One significant criticism I have of this book it is that it is really about the middle and upper class school experience and should clearly say so. Ms Abeles conflates race and class and does not discuss how overtesting impacts students of color differently in poor, urban neighborhoods. Public school systems in communities of color have been degraded by lack of money and further debased by the takeover of public schools by no-excuses charter schools who cream the best students (or lose the hard-to-teach kids through "counseling" them out) and have nowhere the numbers of students with special needs and English Language Learners. When public school children are then tested they do not score as well (more complicated needs), their teachers are evaluated and punished and then the school loses money. It is a vicious cycle that I wish Ms Abeles had at least explored.

Nevertheless, this is an eye-opening book and a warning to us as we continue to understand the impact of testing and the piling on more and more extracurricular activities in order, we hope, to ensure our children's future. Thank you to Vickie Abeles for her penetrating look at our schools.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion.… (meer)