How Schools Change: Lessons from Three Communities Revisited [Paperback]

Tony Wagner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0415927633 | ISBN-13: 978-0415927635 | Edition: 2

The first edition of How Schools Change chronicled the efforts of three very different high schools to improve teaching and learning in the early 1990's. Now, in a new second edition, Wagner concisely summarizes the decade-long history of education reform efforts and revisits the three communities at the beginning of a new century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This study of the ninth grade in three Boston-area high schools--two public, one private--presents an objective, behind-the-scenes view of the process of educational change. Much has been written about the need for reform of American pedogogy and one of the more creative, and apparently successful, programs is the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), a construct of Brown University educational specialist Theodore Sizer. To the extent that each school integrated CES philosophy--clear academic goals, core values shared by an involved community and collaboration among teachers, students, parents and others--the systemic change is achieving noticeable results in varying degrees. The most promising seems to be the private school for a host of reasons, especially because it is small and autonomous. Wagner's compelling appraisal of dedicated educators at work delivers a strong message. The author is an assistant professor of education at the University of New Hampshire.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The mythical American high school in Theodore Sizer's Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School (LJ 1/92) has real-life counterparts in the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). Wagner presents a case study of three school communities. One, Brimmer and May, is a CES school in which Wagner's basic principles for change-setting clear academic goals, fostering core values, and facilitating collaboration among students and teachers-are vigorously and successfully pursued. Brimmer and May, though, is an upper-class private school with small classes and fewer bureaucratic burdens than larger public schools. Wagner's arguments for how this experiment can be transferred to large urban public schools are not so convincing. Still, the book functions well as a socioanthropological study of specific educational environments. A good addition to large education collections.
Arla Lindgren, St. John's Univ., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (November 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415927633
• ISBN-13: 978-0415927635
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,009,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anyone related to education needs to read this...., July 29, 2000

By 

Mark Valentine (Port Angeles, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Schools Change: Lessons from Three Communitites (Hardcover)

Wagner has written three profiles of schools in the process of change. What I found helpful about this book is that he recognizes that this process will take time and will encounter set backs but it is still very much worth doing.

He presents three goals that need to be at the front of any kind of school reform--legislators? are you listening? First, there need to be clear goals identified by the staff; setting clear goals will help measure the progress and clarify just what it is to be called educated in our culture. Second, he states that the staff needs to have core values of compassion and integrous commitment to educational aims. That sounds like election-year mumbo-jumbo, yet, read for what it is worth, it really needs to be addressed. Third, he stresses the collaboration required amonst staff at all levels; each needs the other if it is going to be done well.

Implicit in all of these three steps of school reform, Wagner writes, is this, "Some of the better corporations have been practicing for a decade what many public schol are just beginning ot understand: the people who are closest to the problem should be the ones to make decisions and have the responsibility for solving it. Elected officials cannot be expected to run school systems with any degree of competence. They know too little about educational issues in most cases, are too far removed from the problems, and are too subject to pressures from various constituent groups" p. 228. That sure shoots down State Testing and Vouchers.

For the most part, I found his fourth and final chapter the most beneficial, but take the time to encounter the entire book. He is a clear writer and sets forth a balanced perspective.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book., December 31, 1998

By 

NickelCityJoe (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HOW SCHOOLS CHANGE PA (Paperback)

Looks closely at how reforms play out in different kinds of schools. It is nice to see a book that backs its agenda with open-eyed, practical review of obstacles to true change. Underlying this is Wagner's evident scholarship and experience as a school reform leader. As a student, I think we, our teachers, and everyone else who cares about education reform need to pay this kind of close attention to what actually happens in real schools when reform is attempted.