Can public schools still educate America's children,
particularly in poor and working class communities? Many advocates
of school reform have called for dismantling public education in
favor of market-based models of reform such as privatization and
vouchers. By contrast, this pathfinding book explores how community
organizing and activism in support of public schools in one of
America's most economically disadvantaged regions, the Rio Grande
Valley of South Texas, has engendered impressive academic
results.
Dennis Shirley focuses the book around case studies of three
schools that have benefited from the reform efforts of a community
group called Valley Interfaith, which works to develop community
leadership and boost academic achievement. He follows the
remarkable efforts of teachers, parents, school administrators,
clergy, and community activists to take charge of their schools and
their communities and describes the effects of these efforts on
students' school performance and testing results.
Uniting gritty realism based on extensive field observations
with inspiring vignettes of educators and parents creating genuine
improvement in their schools and communities, this book
demonstrates that public schools can be vital "laboratories of
democracy," in which students and their parents learn the arts of
civic engagement and the skills necessary for participating in our
rapidly changing world. It persuasively argues that the American
tradition of neighborhood schools can still serve as a bedrock of
community engagement and academic achievement.
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