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Good High School
What makes a good school? A prominent Harvard educator looks for the answers in six schools that have earned reputations for excellence: George Washington Carver High School in Atlanta; John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, New York; Highland Park High School near Chicago; Bookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts; St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire; and the Milton Academy, near Boston.
399 pages, Hardcover
First published August 27, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 15, 2020
Though I have loved reading about portraiture in other texts, I was disappointed with this one because art isn't actually used, which is misleading and far less interesting. The punctuation was spotty as well. Still, I appreciate her contributions to ABER.
July 19, 2013
Reading "The Good High School" by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot. It is an ethnographic portrait of six high schools - two urban, two suburban, two elite prep schools. The schools are widely considered "good", or were in 1982, and she uses a clear lens and a narrative voice to portray the contexts of these schools.
As someone who wasn't born yet in 1982, the book serves as a reminder that the formula for successful schools - and the debates about schooling - have largely stayed the same and the context hasn't changed very much at all. The "school reform" debates of today have a genesis in the exact same concerns and anxieties that were taking place in the early 80s (and led to the much-lauded and much-panned "A Nation At Risk" report by the Reagan administration.)
Not sure where I'm going with this. It's just a helpful reminder - as a new educator and someone who is considering academia - that "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Cliched? Perhaps - but important to remember in the contentious ed-reform landscape.
As someone who wasn't born yet in 1982, the book serves as a reminder that the formula for successful schools - and the debates about schooling - have largely stayed the same and the context hasn't changed very much at all. The "school reform" debates of today have a genesis in the exact same concerns and anxieties that were taking place in the early 80s (and led to the much-lauded and much-panned "A Nation At Risk" report by the Reagan administration.)
Not sure where I'm going with this. It's just a helpful reminder - as a new educator and someone who is considering academia - that "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Cliched? Perhaps - but important to remember in the contentious ed-reform landscape.
July 3, 2009
I know this is a seminal piece of educational literature, but it seemed to me a little outdated (1983) and lacked the problem posing that I enjoy in more current and critical educational literature. The narrative is well written and engaging and the ideas presented about "what makes a good school" are thought provoking, but I would not have finished it if it wasn't required reading for class.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews