The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School - Hardcover

Nathan, Linda F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807032743 ISBN 13: 9780807032749

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2009

Synopsis

The Boston Arts Academy comprises an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse student body, yet 94 percent of its graduates are accepted to college. Compare this with the average urban district rate of 50 percent. How do they do it? This remarkable success, writes Principal Linda Nathan, is in large part due to asking the right questions—questions all schools can consider, such as:

 

• How and why does a school develop a shared vision of what it stands for?
• What makes a great teacher, and how can a principal help good teachers improve?
• Why must schools talk openly about race and achievement, and what happens when they do?

 

With engaging honesty, Nathan gives readers a ring-side seat as faculty, parents, and the students themselves grapple with these questions, attempt to implement solutions, and evaluate the outcomes. Stories that are inspirational as well as heartbreaking reveal the missteps and failures—as well as the successes.

 

Nathan doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but seeks to share her insights on schools that matter, teachers who inspire, and students who achieve.

About this title

About the Author

Award-winning educator Linda Nathan founded the Boston Arts Academy in 1998. She consults and speaks on educational issues nationally and internationally, and teaches a graduate course at Harvard on building democratic schools. Nathan lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807032743
• ISBN 13: 9780807032749
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224