Keeping School Letters to Families from Principals of Two Small Schools

by Meier, Deborah; Sizer, Theodore R.; Sizer, Nancy Faust

• ISBN13: 9780807032657
• ISBN10: 0807032654
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-15
• Publisher: Beacon Press

Summary

Education reformers Deborah Meier, Nancy Faust Sizer, and Theodore R. Sizer have published books that have literally helped shape a movement centered on small schools, community, and alternative visions of teaching and learning.But as school principals, all three have also done another kind of writing, as well: short weekly essays in their schools_ newsletters to families. Sharp and accessible but intellectually ambitious, these little essays talk about everything from homework to discipline, from academic expectations to reading for pleasure. Reflecting decades of practical wisdom, this collection of the best of their letters is an essential companion to books like Ted Sizer_s Horace_s Compromise, Ted and Nancy Sizer_s The Students Are Watching, and Deborah Meier_s The Power of Their Ideas.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Theodore R. Sizer
A History of the Mission Hill School	xxii
Deborah Meier
On Keeping School at Parker	xxvii
Nancy Faust Sizer
PART I: LEARNING
Learning: Turning Less into More	3	(12)
Nancy Faust Sizer
The Letters on Learning from Mission Hill	15	(22)
The Letters on Learning from Parker	37	(24)
PART II: AUTHORITY
Authority and Power	61	(8)
Deborah Meier
The Letters on Authority from Mission Hill	69	(11)
The Letters on Authority from Parker	80	(17)
PART III: COMMUNITY
Community	97	(7)
Deborah Meier
The Letters on Community from Mission Hill	104	(16)
The Letters on Community from Parker	120	(19)
PART IV: STANDARDS
Standards	139	(5)
Theodore R. Sizer
The Letters on Standards from Mission Hill	144	(24)
The Letters on Standards from Parker	168	(17)
Acknowledgments	185