No Size Fits All: A New Program of Choice for American Public Schools without Vouchers

"No Size Fits All" is a book whose time has come—a book that offers a proposal that could revolutionize public school policies in the United States at the federal, state and local levels. The book calls upon Congress to require all public school systems that benefit from federal funding to offer parents and children a choice of alternative schools, exempt from the broadly unpopular Common Core testing regime, some of which would use the time-tested Montessori, Waldorf and Sudbury methods to give American students more freedom in determining what they study and when. The politics of federal education policy has devolved into an all-or-nothing fight between defenders of a status quo that its critics condemn as oppressive and proponents of a school choice reform—vouchers, as proposed by Betsy De Vos—that its critics condemn as subversive. No Size Fits All interrupts this all-or-nothing argument with a humane and sensible alternative—one that could lay the groundwork for broad new consensus on federal education policy.

Table of Contents:
Preface; 1. A Battle of Principles; 2. The Genesis and Implementation of Common Core; 3. The Modern Legacy of Progressive Education; 4. Case Study: The Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School; 5. National Advocacy; 6. So Many Different Kinds of Public Schools; 7. Betsy De Vos and the Wrong Kind of School Choice; 8. The Best Kind of School Choice; Epilogue; Index.

About the Author :
Richard Striner, a history professor at Washington College for over thirty years, is an intellectual historian and policy activist whose interdisciplinary work has encompassed political and presidential history, economics, literature, film, architecture and historic preservation. No Size Fits All expands his published work into the field of educational theory and practice. L. Michelle Johnson, a former classroom teacher, is a preservice teacher educator whose work includes content-rich engagement, strength-based pedagogy and instructional design for alternative teacher preparation programs and nontraditional school settings. No Size Fits All is her first published collaboration.

Review :
“This book is simply remarkable. It stands out from competing volumes because of its historical perspective, interesting case studies and practical suggestions. It is a stimulating resource for parents, educators, politicians and the general public. It will help them examine the advantages and disadvantages of both progressive and regimented education.” —Gerard Giordano, Professor of Education, University of North Florida, USA Author's Website