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Educational Courage by Mara Sapon-Shevin and Nancy Schniedewind
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Educational Courage

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Educational Courage by Mara Sapon-Shevin and Nancy Schniedewind
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Sep 04, 2012 | ISBN 9780807032954

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    Sep 04, 2012 | ISBN 9780807032954

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Praise

“In an age when the teachers of our nation and the public schools in which they work have been under fierce attack, these are the dynamic stories of resistance—of educators fighting back against the anti-democratic forces and benighted corporate agenda that are killing off the spirits of our children. A powerful book of intelligent defiance for which our badly battered teachers will be grateful.”—Jonathan Kozol, author of The Shame of the Nation and Fire in the Ashes
 
Educational Courage shows the disastrous consequences of current reforms, as well as the insight and fortitude of educators whose classroom teaching and community organizing are nothing short of inspiring. You will find yourself hugging this book to your heart even as you share it with all those with whom you teach and learn and live.”—Kevin Kumashiro, author of Bad Teacher! How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture
 
“This inspirational volume documents various forms of formal and informal resistance struggles that courageously call for a reclaiming of public education as a core democratic principle of our society.”—Angela Valenzuela, author of Subtractive Schooling and Leaving Children Behind

“With this earnest compilation of essays and exposés, teachers and activists Schniedewind (Open Minds to Equality) and Sapon-Shevin (Because We Can Change the World) aim impassioned, statistic-tipped arrows at the political and corporate forces responsible for endangering the American public education system, and encourage readers to learn more about these forces. Through themes of disbelief, outrage, cooperative resistance, and activism, the authors introduce firsthand accounts from educators, parents, lawmakers, and students. The book sheds new light on this “ambush of public education” and the opportunities for poor students living in at-risk school districts, seen here as direct results of dysfunctional policies and institutions (No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Teach for America, corporate-funded charter schools) supposedly designed to integrate a socially just system for students and teachers. Standout contributors include a master’s degree candidate who had been denied her high school diploma because of a lone failing test score, and a public school teacher who, in a moment of hopelessness, accidentally became the leader of a grassroots campaign for reform. Though there’s much to bemoan about the current state of public education, we also learn there’s much that can be done.”
Publishers Weekly

“This book helps us to be audacious in our activism and in our vision.”—from the Foreword by Deborah Meier

“Schniedewind and Sapon-Shevin knit together the stories of teachers, parents, scholars, and activists who have found imaginative ways to say no and “to act with courage and hope.””
—Rethinking Schools

Table Of Contents

Foreword
Deborah Meier
Preface

Introduction

Part I
Introduction: “Is This What We Call ‘Education’?”
1. A Short History of the Ambush of Public Education
Nancy Schniedewind

2. One Teacher’s Cry
Susan J. Hobart

3. Rachel’s Plea
Wendy J. Goodman

Part II

Introduction: “I Won’t Be a Part of This!”—Educators, Parents,
Students, and Community Members Resist

4. Voices of Students with Disabilities
Kids As Self Advocates (KASA)

5. Debunking the Case for National Standards
Alfie Kohn

6. Resisting the State Test: The Story of an Eleven-Year-Old,
Niño Rebelde
Francisco Guajardo

7. There Is No Rubric for Imagination: Organizing against a Charter School Gone Corporate 49
Nate Walker

8. “No”: The Power of Refusal
Doug Christensen and Chris W. Gallagher

9. Why I Quit Teach For America to Fight for Public Education
Neha Singhal

10. Exit Strategies: Confronting Faulty Graduation Tests
Latricia Wilson

11. Tú Eres Mi Otro Yo/You Are My Other Self
Curtis Acosta

Part III
Introduction: Resisting by “Working in the Cracks”—Creating Spaces to Teach Authentically

12. Deepening the Cracks to Infuse Mathematics for Social Justice
Ellen Davidson

13. Test Prep and the War
Jessica Klonsky

14. Alligator-Crocodile
Felipa Gaudet

15. You Can’t Be Driven by Fear: A Portrait of Public School
Tom Roderick

Part IV

Introduction: “Not My Voice Alone”—Organizing to Reclaim Public Education

16. “You Want to Pay Me for What?!?” Resisting Merit Pay and the Business Model of Education
Sam Coleman and Edwin Mayorga

17. The Curie 12: A Case for Teacher Activism
Katie Hogan

18. The Struggle against Mayoral Control in Milwaukee
Bob Peterson

19. We Are Not the Backlash: We Are the Resistance!
Juanita Doyon

20. “Just Parents” Challenge Mayor Daley, Arne Duncan, and Renaissance 2010
Julie Woestehoff

21. From Seeds to Fruition: The Making of a Resistance Movement
Don Perl

22. Making a Difference
Jane Hirschmann, Ujju Aggarwal, and Donna Nevel

23. What Endures: Meaningful Assessment for the Long Haul
Chris W. Gallagher and Doug Christensen

24. Voices of Activism
Kim Dominguez, Bob Peterson, Stephanie Walters, Kathy M.
Xiong, Sarah Knopp, Gillian Russom, and Brian Jones

25. Another World Is Possible/Another Education Is Necessary
Bill Ayers

Postscript
For Further Reading
Acknowledgments

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