This powerful little book is a 'must read' for English teachers, high school principals, and college instructors now confronting the deplorable conditions of illiteracy in this country. It examines how, since World War I, American educators have embraced one literacy strategy after another and failed, ultimately, to present a high-quality, sufficiently challenging literature program to all middle and high school students. Rather than demanding that all students read a carefully designed sequence of classic and contemporary literary works, English teachers have abandoned the close analysis of texts--by word, by line, and by genre--as a fundamental aim of English. The result? An incoherent, overly politicized literature program that is neither developmentally rigorous nor informed by reading and writing experiences that build on and expand our common heritage as Americans. Few people can speak as authoritatively as Sandra Stotsky on the causes--historical, political and pedagogical--underlying the breakdown we see in the preparedness of high school graduates to enter college able to read analytically while drawing on essential works of imaginative literature, poetry, and non-fiction. As former editor of Research in the Teaching of English, Deputy Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Education, and author of numerous books and articles on reading and language, Professor Stotsky is possibly best known for her work on the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks for English Language Arts and Reading, Mathematics, and History. These three frameworks are arguably one of the principal reasons why Massachusetts has, since 2005, consistently led the country on measures of achievement on the 4th and 8th examinations for mathematics and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The rigor of Massachusetts's frameworks and the standards they hold for all students--most notably10th graders who must earn passing scores on the MCAS in order to receive a diploma--are as much a part of the 'Massachusetts miracle' as the Education Reform Act of 1993 itself.

Dr. Stotsky clearly knows her subject, and, as her record in Massachusetts shows, she has carried her ideas and recommendations into classrooms with impressive results. This thoughtful study is a no-nonsense appeal for reasonable, authentic, overdue changes in the ways we teach students to read, write, reason, and, ultimately, know the power of a good book.