No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Education

School Administrator, May, 2004 by Rene Townsend

"The racial gap (in achievement) is the most important civil rights issue of our time," claim No Excuses authors Abigail Thernstrom, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Stephan Thernstrom, a Harvard University professor. They believe only radical innovation will close this unacceptable gap.

Advocates of vouchers and charter schools, the authors argue that few schools alter the lives of inner-city children. Those that are meeting students' needs are charter schools because only they, the Thernstroms contend, are equipped to deal with the many obstacles to school reform.

They take apart numerous studies and reports on student achievement, pointing out the useful and accurate from the flaws and limitations in analyses. In the process they blow up myths that policymakers and school leaders often use to make decisions or use to make excuses for the disparities in student learning. The data they present are compelling, startling and, as they put it, "make us furious."

The authors' arguments and points have face validity, and even well-informed school leaders will learn something from their insights. A particularly intriguing discussion compares the recent experiences of Asian immigrants with Jewish immigrants in the past and Hispanic immigrants' similarity to the Italian experience.

This book can serve as the basis for critical discussion in a school district. Each of the Thernstroms' 12 characteristics of the schools that work could be an excellent discussion starter. Educators could ask themselves: Are these the right characteristics? Are we, or how are we, implementing them? If there are obstacles to implementation, how do we remove them? This book can help us confront essential questions.

(No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Education by Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom, Simon and Schuster, New York, N.Y., 2003, 334 pp. with index, $26 hardcover)

Rene Townsend

Executive Director, Public School Services, La Jolla, Calif.