Siegfried Engelmann is publishing a new book, The Outrage of Project Follow Through: 5 million failed kids later, and it will initially (but only temporarily) be available via the Internet. An anonymous friend sent me this information:
Every week for the next seven weeks, starting Jan 22, Zig will post one chapter of the unpublished trade book he has just written. Each chapter will remain on http://zigsite.com for two weeks. Once it’s off, it’s off and will not return. There are seven chapters.
- Before Project Follow Through (Jan 22)
- Project Follow Through Begins (Jan 29)
- Follow Through continues (Feb 5)
- During Follow Through (Feb 12)
- Follow Through Evaluation (Feb 19)
- Follow Through Aftermath (Feb 26)
- The New Millennium (Mar 5)
You may download chapters, but understand that the material is copyrighted by Zig and is not to be distributed or published without Zig’s consent.
All chapters except the one on evaluation are at least 80 pages. The book is not designed for educators but for the general public. The events start in 1964, when Zig got his first job in education (at the Institute for Research on Exceptional Children at the University of Illinois) and proceeds from there to the present through a series of first-person vignettes and episodes that present the human side of what Zig and his collegues did and why they did it. The book delivers a powerful message in showing how DI was shaped by evidence on how teachers and kids performed.
Many episodes are dramatic. Together, they show that those involved in the DI Follow Through model knew what they were talking about because they had done more than theorize or observe through the sterile literature. They were completely involved in working with teachers, kids and schools for more than 20 years in different manifestations of Follow Through. The book also provides short tours of work Zig and his collegues have done with various types of learners, from autistic, those with traumatic brain damage, and deaf, to preschoolers, at-risk high school students, and the gifted.
The theme of the book is that urban school districts, as they are currently configured, can’t possibly work because their structure, logic, and philosophy are anti-scientific. Overall, the book will probably sadden you, but hopefully, it will provide an interesting journey and won’t discourage you.
I’m going to post reminders each day that a new chapter appears.
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