All Together Now: Creating Middle-Class Schools Through Public School Choice (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This provocative new book asks a simple question: since we know that middle class schools tend to work best, why not give every child in America the opportunity to attend a public school in which the majority of students come from middle class households? Economically integrated schools, the author argues, will do far more to promote achievement and equal opportunity than vouchers, standards, class size reduction, or any of the other leading education proposals on the left and right that seek to make "separate but equal" schools work. Building on two recent education trends—the decline in racial desegregation as a legal tool and the movement toward greater public school choice—All Together Now provides a blueprint for creating schools that educate children from various backgrounds under one roof. Concurring with the concerns of voucher proponents about the unfairness of trapping poor kids in failing schools, the book provides a practical, viable, and legally sound plan for promoting economic and racial integration among public schools.

About the Author

Richard D. Kahlenberg is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. His books include The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action (Basic Books) and Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School (Hill & Wang).

Product Details

• Paperback: 390 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815748116
• ISBN-13: 978-0815748113
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #319,925 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, challenging, and occasionally inspiring, May 21, 2001

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Together Now : Creating Middle-Class Schools through Public School Choice (Hardcover)

In All Together Now: Creating Middle-Class Schools Through Public School Choice, Richard Kahlenberg (senior fellow at The Century Foundation), advocates giving every child in American the opportunity to attend a public school in which the majority of students come from middle class households. He persuasively argues that the only way to make good on the American assumption that public schools will provide equal educational opportunity is by teaching disadvantaged and advantaged children together within the same facilities, with the same faculties, the same curriculums, and the same educational resources. The only way to achieve this socioeconomic integration is to establish a critical mass of middle-class students within all schools. The recommendations offered in All Together Now outline a blueprint for creating middle class schools and draw upon the experiences of current experiments with economic integration in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Connecticut, and elsewhere. Based on these case examples are practical ways to bring about integrated schools for the future, and guidance for successfully overcoming political, logistical, and legal obstacles to an economic desegregation. All Together Now is informative, challenging, and occasionally inspiring reading which is particularly recommended to education reform activists, policy makers, school administrators, faculty members, and concerned parents.

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, July 9, 2009

By	Doc Student (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Together Now : Creating Middle-Class Schools through Public School Choice (Hardcover)

Richard Kahlenberg takes a new approach to improving the public school system. Kahlenberg only gives one major way to fix schools ( social integration). This is not a fix all for schools although it does open up the idea of how one idea might improve our school systems if the city is large enough. A thought provoking read.