Publisher description for The knowledge deficit : creating a reading revolution for a new generation of American achievers / E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
Bibliographic record and links to related information available from the Library of Congress catalog
Information from electronic data provided by the publisher. May be incomplete or contain other coding.
Perhaps our most insightful thinker on what schools teach, E. D. Hirsch, Jr., shows why American students--beginning with a fourth-grade slump--perform less well than students in other industrialized countries.
Drawing on classroom observation, the history of ideas, and current scientific understanding of the patterns of intellectual growth, Hirsch builds the case that our schools have indeed made progress in teaching the mechanics of reading. But, as he brilliantly shows, they fail virtually all American children--poor and middle class, in public and private schools--because they do not convey the more complex and essential content needed for reading comprehension. Hirsch powerfully reasons that literacy depends less on formal reading "skills" and more on exposure to rich knowledge.
It"s a compelling argument that
gives parents specific tools for enhancing their child"s ability to read with comprehension
shows how No-Child-Left-Behind tests and SATs are measuring certain kinds of knowledge--knowledge that is not being taught in our schools
maps out how American schools can become a strong antidote to poverty and to our frustrating race-based achievement gap, and thus fulfill our democratic ideal for the schools and for our children
Library of Congress subject headings for this publication:
Reading.
Reading -- United States.
Literacy -- United States.
Education -- United States -- Philosophy.