Dr. Daniel Wentland is the author of Strategic Training: Putting Employees First and Organizational Performance in a Nutshell. His articles have been published in the Ivey Business Journal, Compensation and Benefits Review, and Education.

Reality and Education serves as a handy primer for sorting out what is important in education policy. Wentland argues that the purpose of pre-collegiate education is simply learning, not solving an array of societal problems. Learning is elicited by effective teachers who provide clear explanations of what children should learn, what is considered an acceptable quality or level of performance, opportunities for practice and regular feedback, and an explicit understanding of the conditions under which this learning should take place. Teachers are also responsible for conveying to students that successful learning results from effort, time, and persistence. The author emphasizes that, ultimately, students are responsible for their learning. This point varies from current policy, which places full responsibility on teachers for student acquisition of knowledge....The arguments are persuasive and this book is recommended to readers wishing to fully examine the complexities of education policy. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections.

• AcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroductionPart I – Reality and educationChapter 1: Focusing on Reality and Education Chapter 2: Not all students will learn at a high levelChapter 3: The role of educationChapter 4: Look for teachers who love to learn Chapter 5: Students have a role to playChapter 6: Look for an administrator who is the right type of leaderChapter 7: The finance issueChapter 8: Not everyone needs to go to collegeChapter 9: Streamlining the P-16 academic pipelineChapter 10: Is it hopeless?Part II – Given reality how can education be improved? Chapter 11: The first stepChapter 12: Educational environment characteristicsChapter 13: Societal and Community CharacteristicsChapter 14: What about maximizing student learning?Chapter 15: The final message