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Author Kirp, David L.

Title Improbable scholars : the rebirth of a great American school system and a strategy for America's schools / David L. Kirp.

Publication Info. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2013]
©2013

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Glastonbury, Welles-Turner Memorial Library - Adult Department  371.2 KIRP    Check Shelf
 Middletown, Russell Library - Adult Nonfiction  371.2 KIR    Check Shelf
 Portland Public Library - Adult Department  371.2 KIR    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  371.2 KI    Check Shelf
Description viii, 262 pages ; 25 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [225]-248) and index.
Summary "No school district can be all charismatic leaders and super-teachers. It can't start from scratch, and it can't fire all its teachers and principals when students do poorly. Great charter schools can only serve a tiny minority of students. Whether we like it or not, most of our youngsters will continue to be educated in mainstream public schools. The good news, as David L. Kirp reveals in Improbable Scholars, is that there's a sensible way to rebuild public education and close the achievement gap for all students. Indeed, this is precisely what's happening in a most unlikely place: Union City, New Jersey, a poor, crowded Latino community just across the Hudson from Manhattan. The school district--once one of the worst in the state--has ignored trendy reforms in favor of proven game-changers like quality early education, a word-soaked curriculum, and hands-on help for teachers. When beneficial new strategies have emerged, like using sophisticated data-crunching to generate pinpoint assessments to help individual students, they have been folded into the mix. The results demand that we take notice--from third grade through high school, Union City scores on the high-stakes state tests approximate the statewide average. In other words, these inner-city kids are achieving just as much as their suburban cousins in reading, writing, and math. What's even more impressive, nearly ninety percent of high school students are earning their diplomas and sixty percent of them are going to college. Top students are winning national science awards and full rides at Ivy League universities. These schools are not just good places for poor kids. They are good places for kids, period. Improbable Scholars offers a playbook--not a prayer book--for reform that will dramatically change our approach to reviving public education"-- Provided by publisher.
"In Improbable Scholars, David L. Kirp challenges the conventional wisdom about public schools and education reform in America through an in-depth look at Union City, New Jersey's high-performing urban school district. In this compelling study, Kirp reveals Union's city's revolutionary secret: running an exemplary school system doesn't demand heroics, just hard and steady work"-- Provided by publisher.
Contents Introduction: High Stakes -- The Pie: Room 210, George Washington Elementary School -- New Kids on the Block: George Washington Elementary School -- Gruntwork: The Endless Business of Building a Great School System -- The Magic Kingdom: Preschool for All -- Mother Theresa meets Mayor Daley: Good Schools = Smart Politics -- Can These Eagles Soar?: Union City High School -- Where Fun Comes to Die (And Be Reborn): George Washington Elementary School-Reprise -- The Odyssey Continues: Union City School System, One Year Later -- What Union City Can Teach America: Nationwide, Slow and Steady Wins the Race.
Subject School improvement programs -- New Jersey -- Union City -- Case studies.
Hispanic American children -- Education -- New Jersey -- Union City -- Case studies.
Educational equalization -- New Jersey -- Union City -- Case studies.
ISBN 9780199987498 hardback
0199987491 hardback
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