Education Reform

Can we fix the Public Education system in America? Written by an educator with broad experience spanning nearly three decades, this new book suggests that it's already too late. Education’s ongoing failures are feeding on themselves, perpetuating the failed system.

The purpose of this research is to examine the ways in which mentoring affects black graduate students' completion of programs of study. Performance is measured by completion of their graduate program, length of time taken to complete the program, grade point average, and overall attitude about their graduate school experience. On average, over half of all black graduate students leave their programs of study before completion compared to 25 percent attrition (non-completion of program of study) of white students.

America has been steadily sliding in global education rankings for decades. In particular, our students are increasingly unable to compete globally in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), in 2010 only 26 percent of high school seniors in the U.S. scored at or above proficient level in math. Another 36 percent were failing.

Over the past several years, Jonathan Kozol has visited nearly 60 public schools. Virtually everywhere, he finds that conditions have grown worse for inner-city children in the 15 years since federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. First, a state of nearly absolute apartheid now prevails in thousands of our schools. The segregation of Black children has reverted to a level that the nation has not seen since 1968. Few of the students in these schools know White children any longer.

In What's the Point of College?, historian Johann N. Neem offers a new way to think about the major questions facing higher education today, from online education to disruptive innovation to how students really learn. As commentators, reformers, and policymakers call for dramatic change and new educational models, this collection of lucid essays asks us to pause and take stock. What is a college education supposed to be? What kinds of institutions and practices will best help us get there? And which virtues must colleges and universities cultivate to sustain their desired ends?

This expensive education reform would be financed without raising taxes. A new cryptocurrency would be created. The effects of such education reform would be felt at school, home, and all public interactions. Student Manifesto—The Power of Paying Kids to Learn is a book for interested parents, involved teachers, and policymakers. It is never too late to instigate deep changes for the benefit of all.

Has American higher education become a dinosaur? Why, in short, are problems that should be easy for universities to solve so intractable? The answer, Louis Menand argues, is that the institutional structure and the educational philosophy of higher education have remained the same for 100 years.

With falling wages and rising inequality, persistent unemployment, failing schools, and broken cities, have America's best days come and gone? In America Needs Talent, Jamie Merisotis, a globally recognized leader in philanthropy, higher education, and public policy, explains why talent is needed to usher in a new era of innovation and success and why deliberate choices must be made by government, the private sector, education, and individuals to grow talent in America.

When Wisconsin became the first state in the nation in 1959 to let public employees bargain with their employers, the legislation catalyzed changes to labor laws across the country. In March 2011, when newly elected governor Scott Walker repealed most of that labor law and subsequent ones - and then became the first governor in the nation to survive a recall election fifteen months later - it sent a different message. Both times, Wisconsin took the lead, first empowering public unions and then weakening them.

The Future is Bright: How Gem Prep is Reimaging Education and Building Tomorrow's Leaders captures the essence of how some of America's best schools are transforming education and the next generation. Gem Prep schools utilize strong academics, competency development, and exposure to a variety of experiences to prepare today's students to be tomorrow's leaders. Gem Prep's approach to education places students in the driver's seat of their education as they incrementally take ownership of their education and their future.

Discover the transformative power of social welfare redefined in "Redefine Social Welfare: A Blueprint for Change" by Dr. Gurudas Bandyopadhyay. In this groundbreaking guide, readers will embark on a journey to revolutionize the way we approach social welfare, from creating employment opportunities to advancing gender equality and beyond. Packed with actionable insights, practical exercises, and thought-provoking reflections, this book equips readers with the tools they need to drive real change in their lives and communities. Whether you are an advocate for social justice, a policymaker ...

In 1995, Karen Horwitz, aka the CHANGE EVERYTHING TEACHER, discovered our schools suffered from the 'Harvey Weinstein syndrome'—the powerful get their way no matter how wicked until someone finds the courage to expose them. She wrote a memoir to do to those running our schools what that brave actress who testified against Weinstein did. Listeners will learn why we have school shootings and how to end them and restore democracy. She names the corruption that transformed our schools from revered institutions to mere shells White Chalk Crime™ and reveals how it dismantled democracy.

America today confronts a host of urgent problems, many of them seemingly intractable but some we are entirely capable of solving. In Five Easy Theses, James M. Stone presents specific commonsense solutions to a handful of our most pressing challenges, showing how simple it would be to shore up Social Security, rein in an out-of-control financial sector, reduce inequality, and make health care and education better and more affordable.

I went into teaching to change the world. Instead, my students changed me. These are some of my stories. I tell them at a time when education's gone from being a noble pursuit to the epicenter of a national storm. Good teachers are leaving the field at staggering rates. Politicians and pundits are out in full force. Everyone has something to say about education - everyone except the students and teachers in the classroom.

Hailed by Oprah as a "warrior woman for our times", reviled by teachers unions as the enemy, Michelle Rhee, outgoing chancellor of Washington DC, public schools, has become the controversial face of school reform. She has appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, and is currently featured as a hero in the documentary Waiting for Superman. This is the story of her journey from good-girl daughter of Korean immigrants to tough-minded political game-changer.

Chezare A. Warren chronicles the transition of a cohort of young Black males from Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men to their early experiences in higher education. A rich and closely observed account of a mission-driven school and its students, Urban Preparation makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how young males of color can best be served in schools throughout the United States today.

Theodore Sizer, the founder of The Coalition of Essential Schools, was a passionate advocate for the American school system. In this, his last audiobook, he offers a vision of what a future secondary education might look like.

In The Miseducation of America, Ralph Richard Banks, a Stanford Law Professor and founder of the Stanford Center for Racial Justice, argues that higher education has become a luxury good, accessible only to those who need and benefit least from the opportunity it offers.

Why has successful school reform been so difficult to achieve, despite decades of well-intentioned efforts, endless rhetoric, and billions of dollars of investment? Why do most U.S. schools continue to produce disappointing results? Why is there such a disconnect between the schools we need and the schools we have? In this thoughtful and insightful book, Ronald A. Wolk tackles these questions head-on, identifying key assumptions that have shaped the debate on school reform for the past several decades.

Can America's public schools, long resistant to change, meet the challenges of globalization and new educational alternatives? Not by doing what they're doing today. So argues Building Engaged Schools, a book that challenges the faulty assumptions that guide American public education.