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Overview
An inspiring new vision for America's public schools from one of the nation's top educators American fourth graders score twelfth in the world in math skills, after Latvia and Hungary. Our eighth graders are fifteenth, below Malaysia and Slovakia. And by the time they’re fifteen years old, our students have slipped off the map—to twenty-fourth place internationally. If these stats don’t make you angry or ashamed or plain sad, then at the very least they should make you afraid. If matters don’t change soon, tens of millions of our sons and daughters will grow up unable to function—let alone compete—in a global economy. And the impact of that on all of us will be devastating. All is not lost, though, says Rudy Crew, who has headed some of the largest and most daunting school systems in America. Not by any means. Only Connect is a call for not just parents but the entire nation to reconceive our relationship with public education. If we’re to survive, we must place our schools at the center of our communities and partner with them to produce children with the full set of the tools they’ll need—personal, civic, and occupational as well as academic—to face the economic challenges that lie ahead. Much like Thomas Friedman in The World Is Flat, Crew shows us the reality of our schools in a new century, and what we each must do to create the next generation of mature and conscious contributors to society. From parents who demand only the best from their children and their schools, through our teachers and administrators, all the way to Washington, D.C., everyone has a role in restoring American education and America’s competitive edge.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Deeply concerned about the failure of America's educational system, Crew (former chancellor of the New York City schools and currently superintendent of the Miami-Dade County schools) has a vision of what must be done. In spite of the billions we spend on education, six years after No Child Left Behind (NCLB), one-third of our eighth-graders can't do basic math, and only 60% of our 10-year-olds can read, he argues. Furthermore, NCLB's focus on testing has pre-empted attention from other important dimensions of education-building character, citizenship and workplace literacy. Crew proposes a new strategy. First, school systems need to be run like businesses, with explicit goals, implementation plans and budgets. The school must become the nucleus of the community, the center of a web connecting business, the arts, health services and any other social institutions that can be drawn into the school's orbit. "Connected Schools," as Crew calls them, bring outside resources in and give students workplace literacy, i.e., a better sense of what is going on in the larger world. But it's the personal anecdotes that stand out: when Crew describes how his hardworking father put him through school, readers can almost believe that Crew has the grit and determination to make his reform plan work. (Sept.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
Crew (superintendent, Miami Dade County public schools) is worried that public schools are failing to turn students into mature, conscientious adults. With Dyja (Play for a Kingdom), Crew first explains four key areas of student development-personal integrity, workplace literacy, civic awareness, and academic proficiency-and why they are necessary in the global economy. The rest of this book is an explanation of his "Connected Schools" model, in which students interact with educators, parents, communities, businesses, and the arts. Crew repeatedly refers to the four areas of development to tie his ideas together and mixes educational and business models to describe how Connected Schools can create a skilled workforce, an engaged citizenry, and a strong job market. There are many practical examples here of Crew's work, some of which are inspiring; others may have only limited applicability to nonurban school systems, much though Crew wishes the book to have broader purpose. He briefly tackles current issues such as No Child Left Behind and the related shrinking education budgets. While his thoughts offer hope and rejuvenation, his clunky writing makes reading his book more challenging than it should be. Recommended mainly for urban public libraries and for universities with large education departments. [See Prepub Alert, LJ5/15/07.]
—Erica L. Foley