Cindy Buentello Book Review 4/27/2017

The Takeover of Public Education in America

By: A. Patrick Huff, Ph. D.

Wow! This book was amazing! It felt like I had a crash course on No Child Left Behind

(NCLB) and on what Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) truly is and the impact that it had on the

education system, children, staff, parents and the community. As I was reading this book, I could

feel the passion the researcher had on this topic, and I too felt surprised, mad, in disbelieve of

how all of this that was occurring was even legal. Using his experience and research as the

foundation of his theory, Dr. Huff, stated throughout his book that AYP was set in place to bring

schools into failure and possibly even closure. After his study, the researcher was able to

conclude that his theory was true by using the testimonies from the staff, parents and students

that were affected by NCLB and AYP from the East Side of Austin ISD and North Forest ISD.

In 2002, the Bush Administration brought into place the NCLB, and with that came AYP which

was the instrument used to measure the accountability of the schools. President Bush stated that

by 2014, all students will show 100% proficiency. This is what set every school for failure, how

could anyone get 100% proficiency in all 7 subgroups (all students, African American, Hispanic,

White, Economically Disadvantage, Limited English Proficient and Special Education) this was

an unattainable goal. Every year after 2002, the bar to meet AYP was always moving up to

eventually reach the 100% proficiency in 2014. As time progressed, it brought a lot of schools to

failure and the students that were getting hurt the most were the ones that NCLB was suppose to

not leave behind. As the years progressed and schools and districts were not meeting AYP they

were getting restructured by the big businesses from programs that were Charter Management

Organizations or Education Management Organizations. Once they took over it was pretty much
Cindy Buentello Book Review 4/27/2017

what Dr. Huff calls in his book, taxation without representation. During this time there was a lot

of pressure of trying to meet AYP and authentic teaching was thrown out the window and in

came teaching to the test, drilling and limiting our students to only skills that would be tested.

Then came Obama with his waiver in 2012, and this is what sealed the faith of our American

schools where they handed total control of the educational system to the federal government.

The waiver would exempt the states from having to meet the 100% proficiency by 2014, but with

that came a hefty exchange in that our state would have to give into a curriculum that was more

aligned with the country and that is where the adoption of Common Core State Standards came

from, this will have ensured like Dr. Huff stated, syncing states together within one educational

system. I agree with Dr. Huff in that maybe this was the plan the whole time of the federal

government taking total control of the education system and that maybe that was the purpose of

why NCLB and AYP were put into placed, to corner the schools into having no choice but to

accept the waiver or face the consequences of watching their schools get restructured or even

closed. Also, with the waiver came in the requirement of having the teacher appraisal system

linked to student performances and now more than ever this is why all educators are teaching to

the test because not doing so will cause you your job. My final thoughts are that we were bullied

and nothing could be done. I did not realize this until now because when I came into teaching in

late Fall of 2012, teaching to the test was all I knew and I thought in some way this was the best

way to prepare our students, I had fallen into what Dr. Huff calls cognitive dissonance, I feel that

the blindfold has been taken off my eyes and now understand better of what is actually going on.
Cindy Buentello Book Review 4/27/2017

References

Huff, A. P., Ph.D. (2015). The Takeover of Public Education in America: The Agenda to Control

Information and Knowledge Through the Accountability System. AuthorHouse.