NOT AN OPTION, SO LONG AS DEMOCRATS HAVE A SAY (via Mike Daley):

Taking risks to take back the schools (Daniel Weintraub, November 20, 2005, Sacramento Bee)

"Our School" is eye-opening, chilling and inspiring. Up-close and personal, it follows the lives of the students, parents and faculty who had faith that they could break free and succeed.

When [Downtown College Prep] opened its doors in 2000, 83 percent of its 102 students were Hispanic, and nearly half were not completely fluent in English. Most had earned Ds and Fs in middle school, and some were taking the ninth grade for a second time. If they made it, almost all of the students would be the first in their families to go to college.

"With few exceptions," Jacobs writes, "DCP students are the kids nobody else wanted, the kids nobody really believes can make it. " [...]

Over its first four years, the school added about 100 freshmen each year, and by the end, about half of the original class graduated, with about a third transferring to other schools, 11 moving away and six who were kicked out or left for disciplinary reasons. Although those numbers might be typical for the demographic that DCP was educating, the other result was unique: Every one of the graduates was accepted to a four-year college.

Although its stories of success are heartwarming, "Our School" leaves you wondering about the thousands of similar students who don't have a Downtown College Prep as an option, and the teachers in our massive, urban high schools who don't have inspirational leadership with a dogged determination to throw out the old rules and create a new model where professionals are given the support they need to shine.

The book is a call to arms for our best teachers: Rise up, take the initiative, take back the schools. We need you. We need more Downtown College Preps.

Sadly, the schools have to be taken from the teachers' unions first.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 6, 2005 2:08 PM