Nothing's Impossible: Leadership Lessons from Inside and Outside the Classroom

In 1991, Dr. Lorraine Monroe founded the Frederick Douglass Academy, a public school in Harlem, in the belief that caring instructors, a disciplined but creative environment, and a refusal to accept mediocrity could transform the lives of inner-city kids. Her experiment was a huge success. Today the Academy is one of the finest schools in the country, sending graduates to Ivy League colleges and registering the third highest SAT scores in New York City. The key to its success: a unique leadership method Monroe calls the "Monroe Doctrine," which she developed through decades as a teacher and principal in some of America's toughest schools. In this book Monroe tells her own remarkable story and explains her "Doctrine" through pithy, memorable rules and observations and a host of wonderful true stories. This is an inspiring read for both new and experienced educators—and for anyone who wants to succeed in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

Dr. Lorraine Monroe has over thirty years of experience as a teacher and administrator in the New York City public schools, most recently as principal of the Frederick Douglass Academy, widely hailed as a model of effective inner-city education. She is currently director of the School Leadership Academy, a new program to teach strategies for innovation and excellence to principals and school administrators, at the Center for Educational Innovation.