Beyond Measure: Rescuing an Overscheduled, Overtested, Underestimated Generation

Written by Vicki Abeles

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Now in paperback, the New York Times bestseller from Race to Nowhere director Vicki Abeles about how our schools can revolutionize learning, prioritize children’s health, and re-envision success for a lifetime.

Race to Nowhere, Vicki Abeles’s groundbreaking documentary about our educational system, tapped into a widespread problem in our nation’s schools: From high school to kindergarten, an entire generation of American students is being pressured to perform in ways that make them less intellectually flexible, creative, and responsive to a changing world. Vicki brought home how, as students race against each other to have constantly higher grades, better test scores, and more AP courses than their classmates, they are damaging their own mental and physical health.

Now in the New York Times bestseller Beyond Measure, Vicki continues this all-important conversation, seeking out success stories to inspire and instruct those who are eager to create change. We see examples of teachers who have cut the workload in half and seen scores rise; parents who have taken the pressure off of their kids only to find their motivation and abilities rise on their own; schools that have instituted later start times so that the kids are getting the sleep they need able to learn more efficiently.

Everyone is aware that the educational system is broken, and Beyond Measure reveals a personal, unique, on-the-ground perspective. From limiting the number of AP courses a college will consider to eliminating the competitive need to “do more than the next kid” and shifting emphasis in the admissions process to essay options over test scores. “With both heart and smarts, Vicki Abeles showcases the courageous communities that are rejecting the childhood rat race and reclaiming health and learning (Maria Shriver).” The result will help students succeed, not just on the race to college—but for life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781508211839

Vicki Abeles

Vicki Abeles is a filmmaker, an ex-Wall Street lawyer, and a mother of three. Her documentary Race to Nowhere hit a nerve with its vivid portrayal of today’s broken education system. Her second film, Beyond Measure, about the groundbreaking leaders transforming schools for the better, premieres in 2015. She lives in the San Francisco area with her family.

Reviews for Beyond Measure

[karen59_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Beyond measure, Vicki Ables hits the nail right on the head. Our children are being overtested and overscheduled in our schools. Even kindergartners are now expected to read and do math at an ever-increasing pace and their "scores' are used to impact teacher evaluations. Creativity and spontaneity and engaging students in a multitude of methods is declining. Given the pressures of today's world and the fears we parents have for our children it is understandable that we have only begun to question this direction but Ms Abeles, clearly and concisely, raises the bar for all of us. As she states, we must protect our students from this phenomenon and stop the testing madness and the increased focus on doing whatever it takes for our children to get into college even if it is to their detriment. As a parent of a middle school child I feel its effects in her and her classmates and schools.One significant criticism I have of this book it is that it is really about the middle and upper class school experience and should clearly say so. Ms Abeles conflates race and class and does not discuss how overtesting impacts students of color differently in poor, urban neighborhoods. Public school systems in communities of color have been degraded by lack of money and further debased by the takeover of public schools by no-excuses charter schools who cream the best students (or lose the hard-to-teach kids through "counseling" them out) and have nowhere the numbers of students with special needs and English Language Learners. When public school children are then tested they do not score as well (more complicated needs), their teachers are evaluated and punished and then the school loses money. It is a vicious cycle that I wish Ms Abeles had at least explored.Nevertheless, this is an eye-opening book and a warning to us as we continue to understand the impact of testing and the piling on more and more extracurricular activities in order, we hope, to ensure our children's future. Thank you to Vickie Abeles for her penetrating look at our schools.Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion.