The one best system…
was the title of a book about American urban public education. It sits on my shelf, partially read.
My education “shelf” is actually quite short – a quarter of a shelf out of 30 something. There’s Small Schools by Mike and Susan Klonsky (read and reviewed), So Much Reform, So Little Change by Charles Payne, untouched, I really should read it. Pillars of the Republic by Carl Kaestle, great book about the early history of public education in America. Teacher Man, McCourt, unread. Accountability Frankenstein, Sherman Dorn, barely started. Playing for Keeps, Deb Meier et al, skimmed through. The Death and Life of the Great American School System, carried on many a trip, cover still not cracked. Diane Ravitch. An Incar pamphlet in defense of public education in Connecticut that I must have picked up 30 or so years ago. The Pressures of Teaching, a highly readable anthology of short essays by real teachers, edited by Maureen Picard Robins (so ok, I’ve only read a couple of the essays). It’s Not All Flowers and Sausages, by Miss Mimi, adorable, and between the blog and the book I’ve read most of it.
And that’s it. I’m not counting guides to the standards (THE standards? Ha!) Or Ed Psych books, or any of that