From the Inside Flap
Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Christie, and Cory Booker were ready to reform our failing schools. They got an education.
When Mark Zuckerberg announced to a cheering Oprah audience his $100 million pledge to transform the downtrodden schools of Newark, New Jersey, then mayor Cory Booker and Governor Chris Christie were beside him, vowing to help make Newark a symbol of educational excellence for the whole nation. But their plans soon ran into the city s seasoned education players, fierce protectors of their billion-dollar-a-year system. It s a prize that, for generations, has enriched seemingly everyone, except Newark s children.
Dale Russakoff delivers a riveting drama of our times, encompassing the rise of celebrity politics, big philanthropy, extreme economic inequality, the charter school movement, and the struggles and triumphs of schools in one of the nation s poorest cities. As Cory Booker navigates between his status as rock star mayor on Oprah s stage and object of considerable distrust at home, the tumultuous changes planned by reformers and their highly paid consultants spark a fiery grassroots opposition stoked by local politicians and union leaders. The growth of charters forces the hand of Newark s school superintendent Cami Anderson, who closes, consolidates, or redesigns more than a third of the city s schools a scenario on the horizon for many urban districts across America.
Russakoff provides a close-up view of twenty-six-year-old Zuckerberg and his wife as they decide to give the immense sum of money to Newark and then experience an education of their own amid the fallout of the reforms. Most moving are Russakoff s portraits from inside classrooms, as homegrown teachers and principals battle heroically to reach students damaged by extreme poverty and violence.
The Prize is an absorbing portrait of a titanic struggle, indispensable for anyone who cares about the future of public education and the nation s children.
From the Back Cover
This is of one the most disturbing and powerful books I ve read in years. The point of this story is not that the well-intentioned Mark Zuckerberg and his wife gave $100 million to help those less fortunate. The point is they gave it to the wrong people. This deeply researched story left me cheering for teachers, crying for schoolchildren, and raging at politicians. With The Prize, Dale Russakoff demonstrates why she is one of the great nonfiction voices of our time. James McBride, National Book Award winning author of The Good Lord Bird and The Color of Water
The fight for, or over, the children of Newark might have been merely an important story about the future of public education in America, but in Russakoff s accomplished hands and with a cast of characters including Chris Christie, Cory Booker, and Mark Zuckerberg it has become a Shakespearean spectacle of cross-purposes: ambition, altruism, and just about any human drive that invites an equal and opposite reaction. Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Carry Me Home
Dale Russakoff managed to get amazing access to the inside story of Mark Zuckerberg s giant gift to Newark s schools. And she shows how it all fell apart, derailed and compromised by arrogant reformers, ambitious politicians, and shortsighted special interests. An essential history of the modern education reform movement, both infuriating and inspiring. Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed
With The Prize Dale Russakoff has brilliantly rendered the hopes, complexities, pitfalls, and flaws of the efforts to reform American education. This is not simply the compelling story of a single conflict-ridden school system; it is a metaphor for the failing institutions that have betrayed an entire generation of American children. Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope
Dale Russakoff, one of America s great journalists, illuminates one of the country s great problems the failure of inner-city schools with on-the-ground reporting that extends from the governor s office and fancy philanthropies down (or up) to the small miracles performed every day by dedicated Newark classroom teachers. Defenders of charter schools and district schools will find not the usual talking points and platitudes, but hard truths contained in Russakoff s brilliant blend of skeptical and compassionate reportage. Jonathan Alter, author of The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies
The Prize is a riveting cautionary tale. Despite the best intentions of philanthropists and politicians, big money and big data will not save urban education as long as reform efforts are undemocratic and overlook the realities of poor children's lives. With her deep ties to Newark, only Dale Russakoff could have told this poignant story. The Prize is essential reading for anyone who cares about how to give hope to America's most vulnerable kids. Dana Goldstein, author of The Teacher Wars
