Book of the Week (June 9, 2008)

On the New Book shelf in the Library

Call Number: LA 217 .C83 2008

Frogs into Princes: Writings on School Reform

By Larry Cuban

Publisher's Description: A collection of Larry Cuban's writings on urban school reform spanning his 45-year career. These carefully selected studies and articles examine instructional, curricular, organizational, and governance reform in mostly poor and minority districts and schools. The volume includes an Introduction and Epilogue that frames the book, giving readers a sense of Cuban's career as teacher, administrator, and researcher and how those experiences were intimately tied to the writings presented here. Cuban's deep compassion for students and educators and his commitment to educational equality for all children is evident in every page of the collection.

The book brings together in one volume the insights gained from nearly 5 decades of thinking about and working in schools and describes how the current standards and accountability movement, propelled by the No Child Left Behind Act, has been detrimental to schools and learning. It argues convincingly that the problems of inner-city schools can only be solved by eliminating poverty and racism within the larger society and offers empirically based and practical knowledge about ways to maximize the possibilities for successful school reform. Cuban is Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University.