Learning Denied

Learning Denied is a powerful document. Denny Taylor's conclusions confirm many teachers' doubts about America's mania for standardized tests, and serve as a signal to teachers and administrators that a reliance on test results can be more than misleading; it can be a hazard to the child.

Library Journal

Reading this heart-wrenching account of a public school system's inadequately supported categorization of Patrick, a student, as having ``perceptual problems'' and unable to function well in the ``normal'' classroom setting, provides another reason for pursuing nationwide educational reform. The frustration of Patrick's concerned parents and his own regression in a classroom setting, are presented in a terse, factual manner by Taylor, a specialist in alternative assessment procedures. Hopefully Patrick's story will not result in the pervasive resignation that the bureaucratic educational system produces, but in an anger which leads to active participatory support for returning our classrooms to places where learning is a positive experience for the student and the teacher.-- A.R. Huggins, Memphis State Univ.

Denny Taylor has received international recognition for her research and writing. Her awards include the Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize from the Modern Language Association, the Elva Knight Award from the International Reading Association, and the Richard A. Meade Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Her field research is the basis of all her books, including Many Families, Many Literacies: An International Declaration of Principles (Heinemann, 1997) and Toxic Literacies: Exposing the Injustice of Bureaucratic Texts (Heinemann, 1996).