When Children Don't Learn: Student Failure and the Culture of Teaching

Failure to learn represents a virtual assault on the very act of teaching and, therefore, on teachers themselves. The essays in this sorely needed volume explore the interplay between childhood academic failure and the lives and careers of teachers. From diverse perspectives, the distinguished contributors analyze the role that race, class, and disability play in the construction of student failure and how good teachers attempt to contain the resulting damage to the lives of children and to their own sense of professional efficacy. A concluding chapter by Henry Levin offers some important ideas on how educational policy can address the problems of student and teacher failure discussed in this book.

Barry M. Franklin is a professor and chair of the Department of Education at the University of Michigan-Flint.