Schools That Succeed: How Educators Marshal the Power of Systems for Improvement

by Karin Chenoweth

Informed by years of research and on-the-ground reporting, Schools That Succeed is Karin Chenoweth’s most inspiring and compelling book yet—an essential read for educators who seek to break the stubborn connection between academic achievement and socioeconomic status.
 
Chenoweth draws on her decade-long journey into neighborhood schools where low-income students and students of color are learning at unexpectedly high levels to reveal a key ingredient to their in one way or another, their leaders have confronted the traditional ways that schools are organized and have adopted new systems, all focused on improvement. In vivid profiles of once-embattled schools, Chenoweth shows how school leaders doggedly and patiently reorganized internal systems in order to prioritize teaching and learning, resulting in improved outcomes that in many cases exceeded statewide averages.

From how they use time to how they use money, schools that succeed combine a deep belief in the capacity of their students to achieve with deliberate systems focused on student needs. As a result, they create vibrant places “where teachers want to teach and students want to learn."

Genres: Education

240 pages, Paperback

Published March 14, 2017

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The initial premise is interesting: identify high-poverty schools that succeed and try to learn something generalizable from their example. But some of the schools are not really high poverty (only 25% free-lunch). The focus on heroic principals reinforces the singularity of the successful schools. Indeed it seems like it's reverse Anna Karenina: schools can be successful in many different ways, but failing schools are in a similar doom loop. It is hard to generalize in any case from individual schools, because if you concentrate the best administrators and teachers and students in one school you can get improvement in that site without moving the needle at all in the district as a whole. For that reason, I think the author's podcast "Extraordinary Districts" is more interesting.

[North Landesman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book that uses narrative to show how high poverty schools can outperform rich schools. Chenoweth does fantastic reporting to show what these rare schools are like and how they got there. She destroys the myth that "there is nothing we can do for these kids." School leaders should be required to read this book.
Both teachers on the right and left can enjoy this. For teachers on the left, this book shows that if led well, public schools can be a strong source for community, advancement, and learning. The argument that "the system is rotten is false." Teachers on the right can understand that simply giving more money to schools is not the solution, there are clear paths to improve public schools. Just because students are poor does not mean they can't learn. This book shows with strong leadership, public schools can do great things.

[Eric Kalenze · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I thought I had an idea I wanted to chase out for my next book. I'd started poking around on the research and all, planning to have a proposal up and sent in 2017 sometime.

After reading this book (and, in weeks leading up to it, 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers' by the Michaela staff and Lucy Crehan's 'Cleverlands'), I think I've decided I want to do something totally different. We need more books like Chenoweth's in ed right now, not like that one I'd been kicking around in my head.

Read it--and 'Tiger Teachers' and 'Cleverlands'--and see for yourself what I mean.

[Moses · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Chenoweth profiles several schools that overperform relative to other schools of similar demographics. It is amazing to see the ways strong, thoughtful leadership can transform schools, and this book gives a lot of reason for hope that effective administrators can have a huge impact.