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.
Autorentext
Linda Nathan is the first Executive Director of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship and has taught at Harvard Graduate School of Education for fifteen years. Dr. Nathan served as founding headmaster of Boston Arts Academy, Boston's only public high school for the visual and performing arts. She also founded and directed the Center for Arts in Education, an arm of Boston Arts Academy that serves the outreach, professional development, and arts advocacy needs of the school. Dr. Nathan was the co-director of Fenway High School for 14 years and founded two not-for-profit organizations: El Pueblo Nuevo (arts and youth development) and the Center for Collaborative Education (school reform issues). She is co-founder of the Perrone Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership and also serves on numerous not-for-profit boards both locally and nationally and is the author of When Grit Isn't Enough.
Inhalt
Introduction
Part I Structuring a School
1 What Does This School Really Stand For?
How to move from endless initiatives to a unifying framework?
2 What Happens When Schools Develop Shared Values?
What can school leaders do when those values are challenged?
Part II Supporting Teachers
3 Two Great Teachers
What makes great teachers possible, and how much can school leaders really ask of them?
4 Teachers Talking Together
What are the risks and rewards of transforming a faculty into a professional learning community?
Part III Addressing Inequality
5 How Do We Talk about Race?