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Author Rizga, Kristina.

Title Mission High : one school, how experts tried to fail it, and the students and teachers who made it triumph / Kristina Rizga.

Publication Info. New York : Nation Books, 2015.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Glastonbury, Welles-Turner Memorial Library - Adult Department  371.26 RIZGA    Check Shelf
 Plainville Public Library - Non Fiction  371.26 RIZ    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  371.262 RI    Check Shelf
Description xix, 293 pages ; 22 cm
Contents 1. Maria -- 2. Mr. Roth -- The progressives (1890-1950) -- 3. George -- 4. Mr. Hsu -- Desegregation (1957-1970) -- 5. Pablo -- 6. Pricipal Guthertz -- The standards and accountability movement (1980-present) -- 7. Ms. McKamey -- 8. Jesmyn -- Epilogue.
Summary "It's easier for a journalist to embed with the Army than to go behind the scenes at an American public school. Kristina Rizga spent an unprecedented four years reporting from the classrooms and hallways of Mission High School in San Francisco. The result is Mission High, a first hand report from inside a "low-performing" school whose students are, in fact, thriving. Rizga expected noisy classrooms, hallway fights, and disgruntled staff. Instead, she found a welcoming place; satisfied students, teachers and parents; plummeting dropout rates; and a diverse student body with an 88% college acceptance rate. By closely following the individual lives of students and teachers, Rizga illustrates the invisible structures, essential ingredients, and specialized skills that drive genuine academic achievement. Mission High shows how the alternative, hyper-local and progressive approach of Mission High School works. In providing context for the success of Mission High, Rizga explores the most contentious issues surrounding education in America. She argues that attentive, conceptually driven teaching can lead to learning regardless of socio-economic background, and that mixing high-achieving students and underachieving students benefits both groups. She shows how the focus on standardized test scores can't fix America's education system, because the most important data lives at the individual classroom level-where positive outcomes depend on the cooperation between students and teachers. In tracking Mission High's students through college, Rizga provides a model for the future of education in America and shows how we all benefit from the kind of engaged learners, innovators, independent thinkers, and compassionate citizens that can emerge from the public school system. "-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-280) and index.
Subject Mission High School (San Francisco, Calif.)
Academic achievement -- California -- San Francisco.
Educational evaluation -- California -- San Francisco.
Educational sociology -- California -- San Francisco.
High school students -- California -- San Francisco.
Mission High School (San Francisco, Calif.) (OCoLC)fst01677171
Academic achievement. (OCoLC)fst00794949
Educational evaluation. (OCoLC)fst00903437
Educational sociology. (OCoLC)fst00903596
High school students. (OCoLC)fst00956174
California -- San Francisco. (OCoLC)fst01204481
ISBN 9781568584959 (hardback)
1568584954 (hardback)
9781568584621 (ebook)
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