Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School - Softcover

Sizer, Theodore R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0395659736 ISBN 13: 9780395659731

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 1993

Synopsis

Since he first raised the call to arms for school reform in 1984 with the bestselling Horace's Compromise, the scope of Sizer's work has grown dramatically. "Sizer re-examines the assumptions that govern school routines and offers a transforming vision that would allow high schools to 'model the thoughtful life' and raise their standards of accomplishment."--New York Times Book Review.

About this title

About the Author

Theordore R. Sizer, University Professor Emeritus at Brown Universtiy, is the chairman of the coalition of Essential Schools. He lives in Harvard, Massachusetts.

From Kirkus Reviews

A portrait of what an ideal American high school might be like, as envisioned by respected educator Sizer (Education/Brown Univ.). Sizer's earlier Horace's Compromise (1984) was based on intimate knowledge of US high schools. It followed the painful struggle of a fictional teacher, Horace Smith, to work within the restrictions imposed by the system--large classes, dated curricula, bureaucratic halls of mirrors--and still educate his adolescent students. Horace is here again, still a teacher but now also chairman of a committee formed not merely to reorganize but to re- create his high school. The committee includes teachers, students, parents, a school-board member, and, as influential observers, the principal and a consultant wise in the ways of the politics of education. Sizer details in lively fashion the struggles of the group to reform a system that more and more resembles an old- fashioned assembly line. The reform derives from the principles of Sizer's real-life and influential Coalition of Essential Schools. The Coalition's proponents seek to refocus the efforts of education on the student rather than on the system, and to redefine the ends of education before adjusting the means. One controversial innovation: evaluate students through ``Exhibitions''--i.e., independent but far-reaching projects--rather than standard tests. Sizer is not sanguine about the prospects for change, but he sees hope in the pressure that is being put on schools from an evolving culture and technology. A guide, not a blueprint, this is must reading for those who want to be reminded what education should be about. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0395659736
• ISBN 13: 9780395659731
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 238