Waiting for Superman? He’s right under our nose!
Check out the revolutionary and inspiring book that’s transforming public education in America
Foreword by ARNE DUNCAN and Afterword by RAHM EMANUEL
“I hope their story will embolden reformers across the country to step forward and take back their schools.”
—Senator Richard Durbin
“I recommend this book to anyone who is serious about changing America's urban landscape. The Nettelhorst story is one not just to emulate but to celebrate.”
—James Cleveland, president, Jumpstart for Young Children
“Nettelhorst has seen an unbelievable change, from caterpillar to butterfly, and it happened right in my own backyard in Chicago. How to Walk to School moved me to tears…it’s one of the most absolutely beautiful, heartwarming stories I’ve read in a long time.”—Nate Berkus, Oprah & Friends
When two gutsy moms ventured inside Nettelhorst, their neighborhood's underutilized and struggling public elementary school, the new principal asked what it would take for them to enroll their children. Stunned by her candor, they returned the next day armed with an extensive wish list. The principal read their list and said “Well, let's get started, girls! It's going to be a busy year…”
How to Walk to School is the story—from the highs to the lows—of motivated neighborhood parents galvanizing and then organizing an entire community to take a leap of faith, transforming a challenged urban school into one of Chicago's best, virtually overnight. Susan Kurland, Nettelhorst's and Jacqueline Edelberg prove that the fate of public education is not beyond our control. Waiting for Superman is a call to action; How to Walk to School answers that call. At last, an accessible and honest blueprint for reclaiming the great public schools our children deserve.
For additional reviews and information, check out www.howtowalktoschool.com or How to Walk to School on Facebook. Take a virtual tour; it will knock your socks off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZr6BYJSGc
Jacqueline Edelberg is a community organizer, writer, nationally recognized fine artist, and co- founder of the Nettelhorst Parent’s Co-op, a group of energetic parents who sparked Chicago’s neighborhood school renaissance. She has been featured on Oprah & Friends, NPR, CNN, 60 Minutes, Education Weekly, and in the local media.
Susan Kurland has retired as Nettelhorst's principal, and is currently CEO of City Schoolhouse, a consultancy that advices educators on best practices, and serves as the director of Gallery 37, an arts organization that trains public school students throughout Chicago.
Library Journal
“This is a fascinating account of the collaboration between a public school principal, Kurland, the parents of young children considering
their elementary school, and the community that transformed a failing public school into an outstanding and revitalized one. In the face of disastrous, widespread public school system failures across America, parent dissatisfaction, and teacher despair, the Chicago-based Nettelhorst School’s success story is a beacon. Edelberg, one of the Nettelhorst parents, and Kurland offer educators hope that change can happen in any public school, given the right mix of parent-teacher patience, willpower, community involvement, pluck, creativity, collaboration, and ability to overcome adversity. They provide a blueprint that schools can use for revitalization projects, detailing, for instance, how to procure donations from area businesses and to ask questions that will get answers about difficult educational problems such as coping with dysfunctional and unsatisfactory teaching. VERDICT This book is essential reading for all elementary school parents and teachers, especially those who have lost their faith in the American public school system and are looking for ways to improve it. Here are solutions and inspiration.”
Booklist Online (starred review)
“Nettelhorst Elementary School had been on the decline since the 1960s when families living in its Chicago North Side neighborhood fled to the suburbs. As the neighborhood rebounded, the school did not. Then eight energetic women meeting in a nearby park, frustrated
that their soon-to-be-school-age children had so few options—either pricey private schools or excruciating competition for the few slots in public magnet schools—decided to take up the challenge of resurrecting a school plagued by declining enrollment and low achievement. Edelberg was part of that parent group; Kurland was the new principal, receptive to new ideas and active parents. In this highly informative book, Edelberg and Kurland essentially lay out a model for reviving the neighborhood school. They detail the struggles, from tensions with some teachers, to a lack of cooperation with school bureaucracy, to charges by some parents that the school was being gentrified. The reformers knew they had to focus on the essentials: develop partnerships with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, improve academic performance, and improve the school’s image to attract more middle-class families. After all the joy and struggle, the group transformed the school into a high performer that has been acclaimed nationally for its achievement. This is a compelling story of transformation and an incredibly helpful resource—a blueprint—for parents similarly motivated” —Vanessa Bush
Publishers Weekly (October)
“Parents living in the Chicago district served by the notoriously run-down Nettelhorst School—not necessarily failing, but with an unshakeable reputation for it—faced a too-typical dilemma: try to get their children into ultra-competitive magnet schools? Find a way to
pay for private school tuition? Move to the better-served suburbs? Instead, a small group of motivated parents, including author Edelberg, decided to take a whole new approach—work with principal Kurland to turn Nettelhorst into the school they wanted. Sooner than anyone expected, they had turned the flagging institution around; chronicled here, their process for revitalizing the local school provides an inspirational blueprint for any parents determined to make the most of public education. Edelberg and Kurland offer a lot of inspirational ideas in this memoir of their work but, aside from acknowledging the distinct advantage of a parent population with extra time and finances, they provide little perspective for those working for the same goals but with fewer resources. Still, this volume is an admirable achievement that will doubtless be looked to as a model for school districts in need.”
MultiCultural Review
“To read it is to come away inspired with the idea that regardless of one's community setting, it is vital to get parents and local businesses involved in the life of one's school.... This book is a blueprint for showing how to break down those walls that separate to achieve a human and financial renaissance.”
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
An Imprint of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
www.rlpgbooks.com
October 2009 / 210 pages / 1-4422-0000- 6 / $24.95 Cloth
Contact: Emily Todd ! 301-459-3366 x5314 ! etodd@rowman.com
Tags: