Yesterday I wrote a response to a review of a new book about charter schools and it was published on the Wall Street Journal Web Site…
Go Here
Here is a link to the original review.
And a link to the book Our School
Our School : The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds
by Joanne Jacobs
Amazon reviews:
From Publishers Weekly
Jacobs had been an education-beat journalist for more than 15 years before she decided to quit and find out what was really going on with the charter school movement.
In 2001, she started volunteering at Downtown College Prep (DCP), a first-year charter school with 100 ninth graders from predominantly poor, Mexican-American families in San Jose, Calif. The cofounders of the school had a clear mission: to take failing students and prepare them to attend college and do well.
Students would have to break with gang culture and adopt DCP’s mantra: ganas (motivation), orgullo (pride) and communidad (community). Unlike the formulaic, for-profit charter schools of businessmen like Chris Whittle (see the review of Crash Course in PW, Aug. 29), DCP is enthusiastically experimental.
When something’s not working (e.g., trying to teach algebra when kids don’t know fractions), they try something else. As Jacobs tells the story of DCP’s amazingly committed teachers and their (mostly) courageous students, even hardcore opponents of charter schools may soften.
Some useful data (DCP’s student stats, funding summaries) and a listing of resources for people thinking of starting a charter school round out this fascinating case study. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Our School is wonderfully written and wonderfully informative. I cannot think of another book that provides such a close and honest look at a successful charter school serving immigrant kids in grave danger of striking out in American life. The fascinating story that Joanne Jacobs tells zips along like a good novel, but it also delivers an important and optimistic message to educators who want to rescue kids.”–Abigail Thernstrom, co-author of No Excuses and America in Black and White
“Joanne Jacobs has written a ground-breaking book about the most interesting, and potentially important, change in American schooling in the last 15 years. If the rapid growth of charter schools continues, every district in the country will soon have one, and everyone needs to know, as Jacobs explains, where they came from and why they are needed.”–Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist, author of Harvard Schmarvard, Escalante, and Class Struggle
“Our School is today’s Up the Down Staircase. It’s not often a book about my profession gets it right.”–Robert Wright, teacher, Morrill Middle School, San Jose, California
“The more true tales we read about successful charter schools – and the gritty determination and endless frustration of those who yearn to start them – the more American education is going to improve. We need constructive examples of real people making a real difference with real kids in schools that work, schools that didn’t even exist before. Joanne Jacobs has unearthed such an example, and she tells its story in a vivid, insightful, and inspiring way.”–Chester E. Finn, Jr., Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and President, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
“Joanne Jacobs is an experienced journalist who is sensitive to her subjects and has a gift of storytelling. This is a profound book on a fascinating school in the 21st century.”–Richard Colvin, Director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Columbia University
I pray every family can find the school option that works best for each child.
Jenny Hatch
Text of my comment:
My Children’s Education
Jenny Hatch – Louisville, Colo.
My children have been attending a Charter School for the past three years.
Before this we homeschooled for a couple years, tried the public school (but pulled the children out because of an overemphasis on diversity studies and an underemphasis on the basics), and we really agonized to know what was best for our five children.
I am happy to report that this K-12 charter really feels right for our family. The limitations of home school were really embodied in a lack of classroom competition which is a normal and healthy means for students to stretch themselves academically. During homeschool my children worked every day on the curriculums that we purchased for them, but they had no incentive to go above and beyond the basics I required.
An excellent Character Education curriculum is emphasized every day at the charter. I’ve determined that when the schools are focusing on teaching the students how to have good character, they don’t have to worry so much about discrimination based on differences. Excellent art, music, and sports programs round out this approach and offer our children opportunities which were impossible while we were homeschooling.
I believe Charters are a wonderful opportunity for those families who have access to them, and we feel fortunate to have one within driving distance of our home.