Our School The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds

by Jacobs, Joanne

• ISBN13: 9781403976376
• ISBN10: 1403976376
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-06
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

The average ninth-grader beginning school at Downtown College Prep in San Jose, California, reads at a fifth grade level. By senior year, 94% of the graduating class is accepted into college. With a new approach to charter school education, this inner-city school has found success where so many others have failed. Honest and engaging, Jacobs work exposes the schools struggles and triumphs, from preparing students for the SATs in a community where many residents dont speak English to helping troubled students find faith in themselves and the mentors around them. This gritty yet hopeful book offers sound advice and inspiration, while at the same time providing a new understanding of what makes a charter school work.

Author Biography

Joanne Jacobs is an award-winning columnist who covered education for the San Jose Mercury News for more than twenty years. In recent years, she’s written for the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Francisco Chronicle, and Reason Magazine. Her pioneering education blog, JoanneJacobs.com, was listed on MSNBC's Best of the Blogs and has drawn more than one million visitors. She has tutored sixth graders, ninth graders, and college students.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Crossing Over

Fighting the Blob

A School of Our Own

Downtown College Purgatory

This Is DCP!

Vamos, Caballeros

Conflict and Resolution

Strike 67

Outside the Box

Life Dreams

On Trial

The Shortest Basketball Team in America

Last Chance at First Semester

The Zoot Suiters

Red Flag

The Efficiency Expert

Patience

Carrying the Torch

Principal's Day

The Knife

F No Es Fabuloso

Class of '06

Awake

Altius, Fortus

Building for the Future

Ride the Carrot Salad

Lessons Learned

The Charter Debate

Commencement

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