Hot Buttons: Unraveling 10 Controversial Issues in Education

"Controversial issues-'hot buttons'--abound in education. No day goes by without a newspaper headline or a TV commentator trumpeting an issue about which people are talking--and disagreeing. However, when controversial issues are addressed with thoughtfulness and civility, they also provide grist for the mill of education reform and improvement."

So begins this collection of essays edited by Donovan R. Walling, an editor for Phi Delta Kappa. Ten current controversial issues are examined: accountability, assessment reform, character education, charter schools, constructivist teaching, gay and lesbian issues, gender equity, inclusion of students with disabilities, school choice and sexual harassment.

The essays in Hot Buttons are condensed from PDK Fastbacks published between 1993 and 1996. Even if you've read them previously, this book is a handy compilation of conversation starters (and enders). The chapter on accountability by Jack Frymier, for example, explores 12 issues influencing intelligent action on that subject. The chapter on constructivist teaching by John Zahorik explains the four types of such teaching: application, discovery, extension and invention.

I found this book to be a convenient, easy-to-read and useful resource.

(Hot Buttons: Unraveling 10 Controversial Issues in Education, edited by Donovan R. Walling, Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, P.O. Box 789, Bloomington, Ind. 47402, 1997, 268 pp., $17 softcover)

COPYRIGHT 1997 American Association of School Administrators
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group