Choosing Excellence in Public Schools Where There's a Will, There's a Way

Choosing Excellence in Public Schools explains the origins of the low expectations we have of children, including, notably, children of color, those for whom English is a second language, poor children and children with disabilities. The book dispels the basis for low expectations. It makes clear the economic, demographic, civic, personal and moral imperative to educate all children to high standards and the consequences of not doing so. Hornbeck and Conner set forth a comprehensive, radical agenda based on proven practices and practical experience that will result in education success for virtually all children where faithfully implemented. This book breaks new ground. It establishes that the missing ingredient in school reform is the absence of values-driven, focused, well-financed, professionally staffed, technologically sophisticated grassroots expression of the public will insisting that the political, media, business, judicial and organized labor institutions that make the choices that result in our children's learning conditions make different, and effective choices. We get the education for our own children and grandchildren and those of others that we tolerate or demand.

David W. Hornbeck has spent forty-two years as an educator, community organizer, and activist, serving as Maryland state superintendent of schools, Philadelphia superintendent of schools, and chair of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Carnegie Corporation's Commission on the Education of Early Adolescents, the Children's Defense Fund, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Chapter I Commission, and the Public Education Network. Katherine Conner spent her career in the school district of Philadelphia as a teacher, teacher coach, and administrator, finishing as associate superintendent for standards, equity, and student services.