The Achievable Dream: College Board Lessons on Creating Great Schools is an inspiring look at solutions to the challenges facing education in America, from one of the nation’s leading authorities. Based on the personal observations of Gaston Caperton, President of the College Board and former Governor of West Virginia, these stories provide hope for the future and specific lessons of educational success that can be replicated in schools across the country – featuring students, parents, educators, policy-makers and communities that are bucking the trends and demonstrating how America can again be a world leader in education.
Using 10-15 real-world case studies that highlight common traits of successful schools – including rigorous coursework taught by dedicated and skilled teachers; parental involvement; high standards that engage and challenge students; and support from local communities, colleges, and businesses – Caperton highlights models of success that reinforce one central theme: Improving education in America requires a shared commitment to learning that must become a national priority.
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Gaston Caperton is a former two-term governor of West Virginia and a lifelong advocate for excellence in education. He has served as president of the College Board since 1999 and will step down in June 2012. Over the past decade, Caperton has transformed the College Board from an assessment company into a mission-driven, values-based organization and a leading voice in the national dialogue on education. His work on behalf of students, teachers andschools has been recognized with numerous awards, including 10 honorary doctoral degrees.Richard Whitmire, a veteran newspaper reporter and former editorial writer at USA Today, is the author of The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation’s Worst School District (Jossey-Bass, 2011). He is also the author of Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That’s Leaving Them Behind (Amacom, 2010). Whitmire’s commentaries appear frequently in publications including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Whitmire is a former president of the National Education Writers Association. In 2009, he was the Project Journalist for the Broad Prize for Urban Education.
I'm a former editorial writer for USA Today with a long career covering three things: local issues at several newspapers in upstate New York, the Pentagon (after arriving in Washington) and then education. Defense issues, in contrast to education problems, were relatively clean and straight-forward.
Of all the education issues I've written about, the boys dilemma may be the most perplexing. I first came across gender learning issues long ago when writing about national reports which concluded that girls were discriminated against in school, as in teachers calling on aggressive boys and paying little attention to girls in math and science.
As the father of two girls, I was outraged and wrote those reports absent critical comment. I was wrong about that. Even at that time it was clear boys were in academic trouble. The search for the cause behind those boy troubles led to Why Boys Fail.
Former DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee wrote the foreword for Why Boys Fail, and soon after the book came out I approached her about cooperating for a biography. After a lengthy deliberation -- for Rhee, national publicity has often backfired -- she agreed, giving a green light for me to talk to her family, friends and work associates. The result is The Bee Eater. The book's title comes from from an incident when Rhee was teaching in Baltimore (see the Introduction for full details).
There always seems to be an excuse for failing schools--poverty, uncaring perents, distracted teachers, dogmatic administrators. This book shows that there is no excuse. And it shares specific examples of success in the face of difficulty. Read it. Share it.
The true stories of achievement in this book are what moved me the most. Very touching and inspiring, this is not just a few theories but a blueprint for improving our schools. Following the examples of the schools profiled in the book, we see that it is possible to turn our schools around. I'm enjoying this read and look forward to putting these lessons into practice.
If every school principal, teacher and - dare I say - legislator would read this book, perhaps more students across the country could realize their full potential for success. As the father of a child about to enter the New York City public school system, I can only pray that my child encounters the type of visionary educators found in The Achievable Dream.
