What I'm Reading Now - Born to Rise

I admit - I am intrigued by our educational system and I love NYC. So combine the two and your book becomes a must read!

Deborah Kenny decides to open a charter school in NYC - I think her main goal was to allow teachers to really teach. Not to the test and not with every class having the same curriculum, but using their own style and motivation to help kids excel (at one point during recruiting she says she's looking for the "All-Stars"). She decides to start in Harlem and actually visits Geoffrey Canada's school. But her main source of inspiration and encouragement comes from heads of charter schools around the country. She talks about the legal hoops she jumps through and about working in her living room with her 3 kids helping her. She talks about the politics of the entire school system (NYC & beyond) as well as the politics it takes to get grants.

She gives a lot of focus to teachers and letting them kinda guide both the school and the classroom. So while there are rules and expectations of the kids when they come into the school - a lot of what the emphasis would be was decided on by the teachers.

She doesn't talk a lot about parent involvement (until the teachers push to keep the parents more informed about what's going on with their children) or about community involvement (except when then Pres Bush came to visit).

An interesting view on education from a teacher driven standpoint. From this book I don't feel like she focuses on the whole picture (good thing her teachers help round it out!), but I think there is nothing negative about making sure kids know how to read and behave when they graduate!

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