15 must-read books about K-12 education in the US

In 1983 the Reagan administration released its “A Nation at Risk" report – a devastating critique of America's public schools based on the decline of test scores since 1963. Though later studies cast doubt on “A Nation at Risk,” histrionic rhetoric about “failed schools” has been with us every since. Popular documentaries like “Waiting for Superman” and “The Lottery” suggest that charter schools are the unmitigated answer to our public education woes. And now a new film starring Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal – “Won’t Back Down,” which opens in theaters this week – promotes the controversial “parent-trigger” laws that allow parents to convert their local schools to charters in some states. What’s really going on in America's public schools today? Here are 15 must-read books that provide a more nuanced perspective on the current state of US public education.

1. 'Saving the School: The True Story of a Principal, a Teacher, a Coach, a Bunch of Kids and a Year in the Crosshairs of Education Reform,' by Michael Brick

"Saving the School" is the true story of a school in Texas that got the results school reformers demand without doing any of the things that many of them champion. This school focused not on test-taking, but on restoring pride to the community through plays, yearbooks, school clubs, and other activities, in addition to supporting teachers rather than firing them en masse. It was a revived community, not “no excuses” education reform, that helped students achieve higher goals and feel invested in their futures. "Saving the School" is a quickly paced book that helpfully illuminates some of the current debates in public education.

1 of 15

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.