Dynamist Blog

A School That Works

Joanne Jacobs was blogging before blogging was all the rage. Over the past five years, her blog has become one of the best specializing in education. In between posts, Joanne has written a book on a charter school in San Jose so inspiring that its story compelled her to quit her job at the San Jose Mercury News to write full time. Now that book, Our School, is out. Here's Joanne's description:

Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the School That Beat the Odds (Palgrave Macmillan) tells the story of a San Jose charter school that prepares students who are "failing but not in jail" for four-year colleges.

It really is an inspiring story. The average Downtown College Prep student comes from a Mexican immigrant family and enters ninth grade reading at a fifth grade level; 100 percent of graduates have been accepted at four-year colleges and 97 percent are on track to earn a bachelor's degree. DCP now scores well above the state average on the Academic Performance Index, ranking in the top third compared to all high schools, including affluent suburban schools. DCP follows what I call the work-your-butt-off philosophy of education. Its leaders analyze what's not working, adapt quickly and waste no time on esteem inflation or excuses.

While I discuss the charter school movement as a whole, Our School isn't written for wonks. I think it's a good read, sort of Tracy Kidder meets Up the Down Staircase.

My favorite part of the book is the part I didn't write. The book includes Pedro's rap, essays by Gil and Emilia, Roberto's speech, a discipline report on Hector, a teachers' list of DCP jargon, the principal's e-mail conversations with teachers, a phony field trip permission slip created by a girl who wanted a parent-free weekend, and a copy of the school's budget.

I'm looking forward to reading it. Now if Joanne can only sell the film rights...

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