An urban school district that works — without miracles or Superman
To listen to some school reformers, you’d think there are no urban traditional public schools that are successful. Here’s a different story, adapted and excerpted from “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System And A Strategy For America’s Schools” (Oxford University Press), by David Kirp, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a former newspaper editor and policy consultant, as well as the author of numerous articles in various publications and several books, including “Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education.” His new book, “Improbable Scholars,” tells the story of the public schools in Union City, N.J., where teachers do an amazing job of teaching high-poverty students without employing “miracle” reforms.By David Kirp
What would it really take to give students a first-rate education? Some argue that our schools are irremediably broken and that charter schools offer the only solution. The striking achievement of Union City, N.J. — bringing poor, mostly immigrant kids into th