Barriers to excellence : the changes needed for our schools /

Gunzelmann (psychology, Southern New Hampshire Univ.) asserts that there is "trouble in our schools," but provides no new information about that. Five major barriers to improvement are briefly described: societal and cultural, political, economic, psychological, and educational. Once again, there is little new here, and some of the problems noted in this section even seem trivial. For example, in discussing cultural barriers to excellence, the author criticizes the idolization of well-paid athletes (as compared to educators). Later in that same chapter, the author asserts that "hurrying" is a detriment to excellenc; she later suggests that another barrier is related to the fact that American culture is "less formal" than others. This reviewer has no idea what that means or how it might relate to improving US schools. The final section of the book provides some potential responses to the barriers previously described and, once again, provides little of value. For example, the author urges readers to ensure that schools are safe and suggests that everyone should be alert to complex and interconnected barriers. Finally, the book contains numerous grammatical errors, which should have been caught by a competent editor. Summing Up: Not recommended. S. H. Minner Radford University