Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

by National Center on Education and the Economy

Overview

Tough Choices or Tough Times, the report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, shows how the dynamics of the global economy will lead to a steady decline in the American standard of living if this country does not undertake the first thorough overhaul of its education system in a century. This new revised and expanded version of Tough Choices or Tough Times includes:

• An updated Introduction
• A summary of the Commission's proposals
• Commentaries on the proposals by Denis Doyle, Lawrence Mishel, Michael Petrilli, Diane Ravitch, and Richard Rothstein, with responses from members of the Commission.

Tough Choices or Tough Times provides a well-researched analysis of the issues and a compelling set of proposals for changing our system of education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470267561
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/28/2008
Edition description:	Revised and Expanded Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) (www.ncee.org) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing young people with the world-class skills that will allow them to succeed in a global economy. The National Center engages in policy analysis and development and works collaboratively with others at the local, state, and national levels to advance its proposals in the policy arena.

Table of Contents

introduction to the revised edition.

Marc Tucker, President, National Center on Education and the Economy executive summary.

preface.

prologue.

part i : The Nature of the Challenge Now.

part ii : The Scenario: The Recommendations as They Might Look from the Vantage Point of an Observer in 2021.

comments.

background papers.

Estimates of the Additional Expense and Savings Associated with the Commission’s Proposed Reforms in Elementary and Secondary Education.

Teachers and Teaching Policy.

Early Childhood Education.

The Adult Workforce.

commentary on the report.

“Tough Choices”: Change the System, or Suffer the Consequences (Marc S. Tucker).

“Tough Choices”: Radical Ideas, Misguided Assumptions (Diane Ravitch).

Education’s “Grand Departure”: Defending the Skills Commission’s Vision for the Future (Thomas W. Payzant, Charles B. Reed).

Making Tough Choices (Marc S. Tucker).

The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce: Old News or New News? (Denis P. Doyle).

Big Challenges, Bold Ideas (Michael J. Petrilli).

False Alarm (Lawrence Mishel, Richard Rothstein).

The Economic Case for Education Reform (Marc S. Tucker).

Improper Diagnosis, Reckless Treatment (Lawrence Mishel, Richard Rothstein).

Reckless and Wildly Exaggerated? We Don’t Think So! A Response to Mishel and Rothstein (Marc S. Tucker).

appendixes.

The Study.

Trustees of the National Center on Education and the Economy.

Biographies of the Members of the Commission.

Commission Staff and Associates.

What People are Saying About This

"Anyone who hopes to hold a job in the next several decades should read—if not memorize—this extraordinary report."
—Norman R. Augustine, Retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Chairman, The National Academies' Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century

"This penetrating, scary analysis and astute, far-reaching recommendations amount to A Nation at Risk for the next generation, a brave, clear call for top-to-bottom reforms in U.S. education . . . . Tough Choices sketches a bold and efficient new vehicle for equipping 21st century Americans with the skills and knowledge they will need—and that the nation needs."
—Chester E. Finn Jr., Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and President, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

"Bold, inventive, analytic, and piercing, the report's recommendations stand to make a huge difference in how America thinks about and enacts its educational enterprise for all—including its youngest—students."
—Sharon Lynn Kagan, Virginia & Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy,Teachers College, Columbia University, and Codirector, The National Center for Children and Families

"Tough Choices or Tough Times is must reading . . . . The Commission advances thought-provoking recommendations that should stimulate debate and then galvanize every sector of society . . . to muster the will and the wherewithal to ensure that America's workforce is the best educated and prepared in the world."
—Hugh Price, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and Former President, National Urban League

"[O]ur students are falling further behind and the people of this nation do not seem to be alarmed. This report lays out the kind of drastic change to the system that is crucial if we are to remain a viable economic and political leader in the world."
—David P. Driscoll, Commissioner of Education, Massachusetts

Editorial Reviews

"The book is a must read for anyone involved in the educational process in the United States." (NACADA, Nov 20, 2007)

From the Publisher