Duck and Cover: Confronting and Correcting Dubious Practices in Education

In the 1950s and 1960s, students practiced ducking under their desks in case of an atomic bomb attack. We know that this was silly and provided no protection and many school practices that are popular today are equally silly. This book explores a wide range of what the authors label “duck and cover” policies―ideas that may have started for good reasons but whose usefulness has declined over time, ideas that may lack sound theoretical foundations or long-term evidence, ideas that violate basic logic and reasoning or cause serious and proven damage. Ginsberg and Zhao explore how and why these policies were adopted, along with the underlying factors that push school leaders to maintain them. They also offer recommendations for reconsidering, replacing, or just removing these dubious strategies from practice. Topics include standardized testing, kindergarten readiness, college and career readiness, social and emotional learning, teaching evaluations, class size, professional development, time management, and much more. Duck and Cover will help readers think about their schools’ policies and practices in new ways, encouraging ongoing consideration and feedback about what actually works.
Book Features: Invites K–12 educational policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to question the effectiveness of everyday practices. Shows that some commonly practiced and even sacred beliefs in education are not scientifically sound or even logical. Points to actions that leaders can take to remove, reconsider, or revise detrimental practices―a duck-and-cover audit guide with questions readers can use to examine what they do.