Social Reform

In his preface to this reissue of the 1990 book, Challenging the Boundaries of Reform, W. J. Conroy reflects on the recent legacy of Bernie Sanders, his agenda for America, and his appeal to young voters. His audiobook then looks back to identify Sanders’ experience in Burlington by examining several case studies that unfolded amid a conservative trend nationally, an unsympathetic state government, and a hostile city council.

In this powerful narrative non-fiction debut, the lives of these three characters provide listeners with a vivid and sobering portrait of education in twenty-first-century America. Hope Against Hope works in the same tradition as Random Family and There Are No Children Here to capture the challenges of growing up and learning in a troubled world.

In Is College Worth It?, William J. Bennett and David Wilezol assess the problems of American higher education at various levels, from runaway costs to inferior academics to poor graduation rates to political indoctrination, and propose serious reforms and alternative methods for improving higher education so that it better serves our students.

Losing Control is a vivid history of the past half century of immigration politics and policy. It is also a dramatic ground-level account of how the story took shape. Kammer describes the economic and cultural forces that both pushed millions of migrants from home communities in Latin America and pulled them northward to the US. He shows how the backlash gradually emerged from the frustrations of American workers and communities who felt overwhelmed by the influx and betrayed by their government.

Despite a perfect storm of hostile forces that are robbing children of a healthy childhood, courageous parents and teachers who know what’s best for children are turning the tide. Johann Christoph Arnold, whose books on education, parenting, and relationships have helped more than a million people through life’s challenges, draws on the stories and voices of parents and educators on the ground, and a wealth of personal experience.

Blended learning has the power to reinvent education, but the transition requires a new approach to learning and a new skillset for educators. Loaded with research and examples, Blended Learning in Action demonstrates the advantages a blended model has over traditional instruction when technology is used to engage students both inside the classroom and online.

The K-12 education sector is isolated from the wider economy, causing teachers and school administrators to feel stuck in jobs they no longer want and without clear pathways to pivot to new careers. By examining the career journeys of 20 former educators, we learn the reasons so many educators are seeking to leave the profession, from the constant crises to factors causing burnout and work-life imbalance, illustrating how schools and districts are failing to monitor and improve their employee experience and wellbeing.

Part memoir, part manifesto, Radical is this fearless advocate's incisive, intensely personal call-to-arms. Rhee combines the story of her own extraordinary experience with dozens of compelling examples from schools she's worked in and studied-from students from unspeakable home lives who have thrived in the classroom to teachers whose radical methods have produced unprecedented leaps in achievement. Radical chronicles Rhee's awakening to the potential of every child, her rage at the special interests blocking badly-needed change, and her recognition that it will take a grassroots movement to create outstanding public schools.

This definitive people’s history of the recovery movement spans the 1970s to the present day and proves to readers just how essential mental health activism is to every person in this country, whether you have a current psychiatric diagnosis or not. In Fighting for Recovery, professor and mental health advocate Phyllis Vine tells the history of the former psychiatric patients, families, and courageous activists who formed a patients’ liberation movement that challenged medical authority and proved to the world that recovery from mental illness is possible.

When we see a student using a hammer on a screw, our first assumption probably isn’t that they hate screwdrivers. We’d probably think they don’t have one. Because we understand our students will use whatever tools they have available to meet their needs, we would instinctively ask the obvious question: do you need a screwdriver? Yet often when our students use whatever behavioral tools they have at their disposal in the classroom, if the resulting behavior is as inappropriate as using a hammer on a screw, the default response from schools is based in criminal justice not curiosity.

Witnessing Whiteness offers a comprehensive and empathetic exploration of what white people experience when learning about race, why it is so confusing, how whiteness works in their lives, and how to act against racism. The author combines authentic storytelling, nuanced analysis, and compelling voices from a collection of cross-race guides to lead listeners through a self-reflective process that creates clarity about today’s challenging and often contradicting messages about how to be antiracist.

The Big Lie About Race in America's Schools delivers a collective response to the challenge of racially charged misinformation, disinformation, and censorship that increasingly permeates and weakens not only US education but also our democracy. Royel Johnson and Shaun Harper bring together leading education scholars and educators to confront the weaponized distortions that are undermining both public education and racial justice. The experts gathered in this work offer strategies to counter these dangerous trends.

The New England Educatorby Steven Detmers is a historical fiction novel set in 19th century New England. The book delves into the life of Bernard C. Langdon, a young man navigating the challenges of social class, personal ambition, and the evolving role of education in shaping individuals and communities. In a world where social class dictates one's fate, Bernard C. Langdon stands as a beacon of resilience and reform. Embark on Bernard's journey as he transitions from a medical student to a schoolmaster in a rebellious village. Witness his struggles and triumphs as he restores order among ...

In the mid-1990s, facing severe cuts to its public funding, the University of Oregon - like so many colleges across the country - was desperate for cash. Luckily, the Oregon Ducks' 1995 Rose Bowl berth caught the attention of the school's wealthiest alumnus: Nike founder Phil Knight, who was seeking new marketing angles at the collegiate level. And so the University of Nike was born. But as journalist Joshua Hunt reveals in University of Nike, Oregon has paid dearly for the veneer of financial prosperity and athletic success that has come with this brand partnering.

In The Power of a Plant, globally acclaimed teacher and self-proclaimed CEO (Chief Eternal Optimist) Stephen Ritz shows you how, in one of the nation's poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom.

Breaking Barriers shows how to redesign high schools so that all students can move on to college and successful careers. In a negation of the American dream, a child's zip code is currently a far better predictor of success than hard work, intelligence, or resilience. This book tells the story of a school model that focuses on equity and works to prove that all young people can achieve academic excellence given the right support. P-TECH combines public high schools and community colleges in partnership with employers, providing both opportunity and support for all students.

What is the reality of policing in the United States? Do the police keep anyone safe and secure other than the very wealthy? How do recent police killings of young Black people in the United States fit into the historical and global context of anti-blackness? This collection of reports and essays explores police violence against Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures.

In the years after A Nation at Risk, conservatives' ideas to reform America's lagging education system gained much traction. Key items like school choice and rigorous academic standards drew bipartisan support and were put into practice across the country. Today, these gains are in retreat, ceding ground to progressive nostrums that do little to boost the skills and knowledge of young people. Far from being discouraged, however, conservatives should seize the moment to refresh their vision of quality K-12 education for today's America.

Are our children getting the best educational experience? Are the educators in an environment that best suits them to become the teachers that our kids deserve? If you believe that our schools can do better for our children, this book is for you!

Challenging Operations takes up the apparent paradox of medical professionals resisting reforms designed to help them and their patients. Through vivid anecdotes, interviews, and incisive observation and analysis, Katherine Kellogg reveals the complex ways that institutional reforms spark resistance when they challenge long-standing beliefs, roles, and systems of authority. Shedding new light on the difficulty of implementing reforms, Challenging Operations offers concrete recommendations for effectively meeting that challenge.