From Publishers Weekly
In 1982 the beleaguered Kinzie elementary school, suffering from typical inner-city deprivations in southeast Chicago, was revitalized with the addition of 15 classes of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. At first the non-hearing population was segregated from the hearing, which resulted in envy from both camps over the special treatments each perceived the other to receive. In telling of how conflict turned into cooperation, and, ultimately, integration, Banks, the principal of Kinzie, draws a blueprint for how special education should--yet seldom does--serve students.
Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In 1982, Banks was a teacher at the John H. Kinzie School (an elementary school in Chicago) when 135 deaf students were brought in to pump up a declining school population. In her account of the school's next ten years, she relates how this creative and risk-taking venture launched a decade of reform, negotiation, learning, and success for all but especially for the deaf. Now the school's principal, Banks writes clearly, making this book one of the few that deals with complex issues without resorting to scholarly jargon. Her tone is honest yet precise as she documents the myths working against inclusion, the administrative red tape, and the school's steady progress toward inclusion. Banks also provides the lay reader with a good background in the context of educational reform as well as the history and current practice of deaf education. Recommended for education collections.
Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
