Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book tells the story of a small school for black children in a small steel city in Pennsylvania. It tells of the time of segregation and Jim Crow and "separate but equal." The school, James Adams, in Coatesville, was a forerunner of the Community School Movement.
The author, Dr. Jeanita Richardson, is Associate Professor at the University of Virginia. The principal of the James Adams school was Thomas Jefferson Anderson (T.J.), her grandfather. She therefore offers insightful information into the school and her grandparents. Mrs. Anderson was a teacher at the school, and together the couple provided wonderful leadership and example for the students of JACS (James Adams Community School). Between them, the couple held five degrees.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must reveal that I and my parents knew the Andersons and we loved and admired them. A difference of race was of no concern to us or to them. I am quoted in the book and my parents referred to, but that is not the reason for my heartily recommending this fine book to anyone interested in knowing about education in the time of segregation and of a school which shone like a light on a hill.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Full-Service Community School Movement: Lessons from the James Adams Community School
In the wake of stringent public school accountability standards, educators are forced to address persistent "achievement gaps" in new ways. Concomitantly, there is growing acknowledgement that factors external to schools critically influence academic success. Full-service community schools attempt to narrow "gaps" by convening comprehensive networks, yet, this contemporary movement also reminds us, "there is nothing new under the sun". This book contributes to the educational and socio-historical lexicon through an examination of a segregated school exemplifying contemporary "best practices" instructive on multiple levels to schools in the twenty-first century.
0 comments:
Post a Comment