Customer Reviews

Building Engaged Schools: Getting the Most Out of America's Classrooms

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Gallup's work in the area of strengths is well known and widely used in both the world of business and in many colleges. See, e.g., Now, Discover Your Strengths. This book makes a compelling case for reconciling the competing agendas of No Child Left Behind and the school, student, and teacher-centered approaches by rallying around engagement, for both students and teachers. As usual with Gallup's products, this one is backed up with the surveys and research Gallup has conducted over the years. Neither "engagement" nor "strengths" are left as "soft", unmeasurable terms. Those who want real, measurable improvement in schools and those who want schools to be a great place for teachers and students will find much to like, and perhaps a way to talk to each other in this book. In fact, the three elements that polls in 1995 and 2004 identified as things the public thinks are very important, but not likely to be happening in schools, could be the basis of a great vision statement:

* Students challenged to develop themselves to their full potential
* Motivated students
* Emphasizing the strengths of each student

(pp. 62-67).

If you're interested in education policy, you need to be conversant with the information and policy recommendations in this book.

Don't be fooled by the title - there is applicability for a variety of organizations, and for profit and not-for-profit groups alike can benefit from Dr. Gordon's outstanding book. With my background and graduate work in education and business, I found myself immediately engrossed in this book and its uses beyond the classroom. I have enthusiastically endorsed this work to several friends and peers in business, education, and healthcare since my recent two-sitting reading of this book. If you are a fan of Carl Rogers, Peter Drucker, Donald Clifton ("How Full Is Your Bucket"), or Marty Seligman, you will love this book. If you have any interest in being part of the revolutionary change needed in corporate America or in the classroom (or school system), you will find yourself fully engaged in this wonderful, well-researched work (up to date with the Gallup organization's 2006 data on the engaged teacher and the engaged workforce). Dr. Gordon's detailed analysis of the six major (faulty) assumptions apply to many workplace situations as they do within the school system. Having previously been a fan of Jonathon Kozol's works, I recall being angry with the situation in many dysfunctional schools systems, but not knowing what, exactly, I could do with that anger. Now I have the material with this book to be part of the solution, both inside and outside of the educational setting. I obviously can't say enough of how much I enjoyed this book.

America's public schools often rely too heavily on the same old formula for passing success without rising to the challenge of making changes to the system. BUILDING ENGAGED SCHOOLS offers a program for so doing, outlining the many challenges public schools face and covering the different values inherent in 'soft' education activities often ignored in favor of standards and testing processes. Chapters come from a leader of Gallup's Education Division and focuses on how to tap into a child's inner drive and needs to build a classroom program that lifts them from alienation into engagement. Teachers and students alike will benefit from this process.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

An excellent book complementing the existing literature. Well-written, deep insight and specific advice - all embedded in theoretical concepts with lots of empirical evidence. Congratulations!