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How Schools Work
How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation's Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education | Arne Duncan
5 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 4 to read
From the Secretary of Education under President Obama, an exposé of the status quo that helps maintain a broken system at the expense of our kids’ education. “Education runs on lies. That’s probably not what you’d expect from a former Secretary of Education, but it’s the truth.” So opens Arne Duncan’s How Schools Work, although the title could just as easily be How American Schools Work for Some, Not for Others, and Only Now and Then for Kids. Drawing on nearly three decades in education—from his mother’s after-school program on Chicago’s South Side to his tenure as Secretary of Education in DC—How Schools Work follows Arne (as he insists you call him) as he takes on challenges at every turn: gangbangers in Chicago housing projects, parents who call him racist, teachers who insist they can’t help poor kids, unions that refuse to modernize, Tea Partiers who call him an autocrat, affluent white progressive moms who hate yearly tests, and even the NRA, which once labeled Arne the “most extreme anti-gun member of President Obama's Cabinet.” Going to a child’s funeral every couple of weeks, as he did when he worked in Chicago, will do that to a person. How Schools Work exposes the lies that have caused American kids to fall behind their international peers, from early childhood all the way to college graduation rates. But it also celebrates the countless everyday heroes Arne has encountered along the way: teachers, principals, reformers, staffers, business people, mayors, and presidents. How Schools Work will inspire parents, teachers, voters, and even students to demand more of our public schools. If America is going to be great, then we can accept nothing less.
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thricerenewed
Pickpick

I enjoyed this book. I left it feeling like I had a better idea of how school systems and individual schools work and where and why they have their weaknesses, which fits for the title. I‘ve felt the need for systemic changes in schools and I feel like this book helped bring a few more specifics into my conversation.

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crazyspine
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Pickpick

As a public school teacher, I found Duncan's book to be fascinating, even though I disagree with a lot of his philosophy. It was interesting to see his rationale for his descions and opinions. For example, Duncan firmly believes in linking test scores to teacher evaluations and merit pay. You'll be hard pressed to find a public school teacher who agrees; this book certainly won't change minds, but it at least gives him a chance to defend himself.

Weaponxgirl I hate the idea of linking test scores to teachers pay. I always hate how a good school is judged by how many top marks students it has as its easy to do well when you start with good. It's teachers who take a student from nothing to a pass who amaze me. Yet that doesn't impress anyone just obsessed with grades ect. 6y
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crazyspine
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I love the library! Checking out a new lake using library pass. Hard to see but this is the cover my husband made for my kindle, so I can feel like I'm reading a real book.

Suet624 Lovely cover. 6y
ReadZenRites Pretty!😊💕 6y
tracey38 Very pretty. 6y
laurenlovesliterature How awesome!!! 6y
77 likes5 comments
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crazyspine
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1. New Jersey
2. Just finished Beautiful Boy and starting an ARC for How Schools Work
3. Whichever library hold comes on or Netgalley ARCS that are overdue.
#tuesdaytidbits