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Choosing
Excellence now complimentary with any purchase! |
| PRAISE
for
CHOOSING EXCELLENCE
by John Merrow |
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"For
twenty-five years John Merrow has been reporting on American education
and identifying the questions he believes we should all be asking
about our children's schools with an incisive eye. He outlines them
eloquently in Choosing Excellence: "Good Enough" Schools Are
Not Good Enough." Marian
Wright Edelman President, Children's Defense Fund
"John Merrow
has put it all together in one place. A how-to-think-about-schools
book that is sophisticated, thoughtful, and down-to-earth, written
with a sensitivity and carefulness that few such efforts manage. It
should be required reading, not just for parents as they make those
big decisions about their little kids, but also for legislators and
policymakers who don't realize how little they know or how much they
need to know." Deborah
Meier vice chair of the Coalition of Essential Schools
and author of Will Standards Save Public Education?
"A lucid,
sensible, and sensitive account of where American 'school reform'
is heading." Ted
Sizer professor emeritus at Brown University,
chairman and founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, and
author of HoraceÁs Compromise.
"Choosing
Excellence is especially powerful because Merrow supports his
clear vision of excellence schools with a focus on specific strategies.
His in-depth discussion of a wide range of issues affecting the social
and academic climate of schools will be very helpful to teachers,
parents, and all whose work impacts the development of children."
James
P. Comer Ph.D., Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry
at the Yale Child Study Center, associate dean of Yale School of
Medicine, and author of Waiting for a Miracle
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 "Every
school board member, superintendent, principal, teacher, and parent
will find useful ideas about improving learning in John Merrow's book.
What's more, it's fun to read!" Harold
Howe II U.S. Commissioner of Education under President
Lyndon B. Johnson
"An astute
and sympathetic observer of teachers and students, John Merrow speaks
uncommon common sense about education. I recommend Choosing Excellence.
It is steeped in the inspiring but sometimes heartbreaking details
of everyday classrooms and schools." Bob
Chase President, National Education Association
"John Merrow
has given the parents and citizens of the U.S. a wonderful gift. He
has written us a primer on what to look for and the questions to ask
if our children are to have excellent schools. He's right– 'good
enough' schools are not good enough!" Arthur
Levine President of Teachers College at Columbia
University and author of When Hope and Fear Collide
"This is
a must read for all those who care about schools and children. Merrow
is a keen observer who understands what is wrong with American education
and suggests common-sense solutions. Above all, this is a book for
caring parents who need guidance on the right questions to ask of
teachers and administrators to understand whether their son's or daughter's
school is 'excellent,' only 'good enough,' or 'poor.'"
Thomas
H. Kean President of Drew University and former governor
of New Jersey
"Avoiding
bromides as well as tirades, John Merrow provides a candid, vivid,
sensible, and useful guide to excellent schools."
Howard
Gardner, John H.and
Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor in Cognition and
Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and author
of Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and The
Disciplined Mind.
"This wide-ranging
and balanced book calls a welcome truce in the education wars. Aside
from its too-sweeping denunciation of high-stakes tests, it is a wise
and genial book -- as one would expect from its author, John Merrow."
E.
D. Hirsch, Jr. founder of the Core Knowledge school
reform and author of The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them
and Cultural Literacy
"(Choosing
Excellence is) an unusual combination of researched opinion on
education, and practical tips for parents and others... John Merrow
writes with balance but passion and no fear of giving his own opinions;
and well informed opinions they are indeed, based on years of visiting
and observing public education systems."
Augusta
Souza Kappner President of The Bank Street College
of Education
"Choosing
Excellence is unusual for a book about education. It is both philosophical
and pragmatic. John Merrow sets out to find why so many schools are
"good enough"– his term for schools that are neither excellent
nor bad but aren't good enough. He brings to the task a keen observer's
eye, two and a half decades of experience, and strong opinions backed
by astute analysis and lots of evidence. We should all concern ourselves
about how to move schools toward excellence and this book can help."
Frank
Newman former President of the Education Commission
of the States, and current Visiting Professor of Public Policy and
Sociology Brown University
"John Merrow
has been observing schools for 25 years, and this book provides an
engaging accumulation of his good sense and wisdom. The 'Questions
to Ask' at each chapter's end are as good a guide to excellence as
you'll find." Mike
Rose professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education
and author of Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in
America
"Choosing
Excellence is vintage Merrow: thoughtful, engaging, and delightfully
opinionated. With passion and common sense, he provides a tonic for
parents fed up with the testing mania and looking for better ways
to evaluate schools." Jerome
T. Murphy dean and Harold Howe II Professor of Education
at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
"The great
contribution of Merrow's book is his insistence that excellent schools
are possible for every child, even those we have historically banished
to bad schools. Then he empowers anyone interested in provoking excellent
education in schools and districts by giving them the right questions
to ask of those in charge." David
Hornbeck former Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools
and Maryland Secretary of Education
"John Merrow
is at it again. Investigative journalism of the first rank, Choosing
Excellence is precisely what American education needs when it
needs it. Hard hitting and tough minded, it offers a spirited critique
without being mean spirited. Merrow looks at modern schools without
blinking, but his commentary remains humane and generous. Readers
from both sides of the aisle will find Choosing Excellence
a must read." Denis
P. Doyle Chief Academic Officer of SchoolNet.com and
co-author of Winning the Brain Race and Raising the Standard.
"School
reform gurus and education research point to the importance of parental
and community involvement in children's development and academic success.
Rarely do they tell us what 'involvement' means or how to achieve
it. John Merrow does. His perceptive journalist's eye for the keys
to making a critical difference provides a virtual roadmap for parents
and others seeking not the 'fad of the month' but true quality. Choosing
Excellence is an instructive and entertaining read for parents,
teachers, and policymakers alike." Samuel
Halperin principal author of The Forgotten Half and codirector
of the American Youth Policy Forum
"Aristotle's
wise man knew how to ask good questions as well as what constitutes
good– and excellent– answers. We find such practical and
idealistic wisdom in John Merrow's new book, Choosing Excellence.
He supplies much needed clarity with his topic-specific, probing questions
we all should be asking if good enough is not, in fact, good enough
for our children. Sue
Bastian President of Teaching Matters, Inc.
"Choosing
Excellence provides great information for parents to begin to
ask the right questions and make informed choices." Sharon
Darling President of the National Center for Family Literacy
"There
are only a handful of premier thinkers in this nation concerning matters
educational, and John Merrow is certainly among them...Getting to
the chafe of what makes a school excellent and what holds schools
back from creating excellent learning environments, this book is an
absolute must-read for anyone interested in the current status and
the potential of education in America." Edward
Zigler Sterling Professor of Psychology, Yale University |
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