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No Excuses : Lessons From 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools By Samuel Casey Carter Book Review: Paper On Education Distribution In The Us And How It Affects Income And How 21 Schools Made The Exception To The Rule

Doogiemonstor
Book Review
Econ 355
May 15, 2008
No Excuses
Synopsis
In the US there is an unfortunate reality that exists among low-income K-12 public schools. This national tragedy is the failure to teach children of poor families the necessary skills to make it in the real world. Samuel Casey Carter’s No Excuses, states that roughly 20 million lower than average income children exist in the K-12 public school system. Of this number, 12 million are not learning the most fundamental skills (1). His opposition claims that the environment these students experience dooms them to a having a substandard education and as a result a life of poverty.
“A child living in an inner city is in school for only so many hours. It’s in the rest of the day—as well as the rest of the neighborhood—that’s the big influence, and the big problem,” (2)
Carter disagrees, he believes it is within the means of the public school system to make improvements for underprivileged children whether they are in the classroom or not. He demonstrates through 21 different examples how the principals of particular high- poverty K-12 schools took a leadership role against the “bureaucratic and cultural obstacles,” that was keeping their students behind (1). He dubbed these schools No Excuses Schools. “By studying the traits of these high-performing, high-poverty schools, other schools can replicate their success,” (8). His most important claim is in title of the book. That is, there is absolutely No Excuses for children of lesser income families to be subjected to a lower then par education. “All children can learn,” (1).
“The [21 No Excuses Schools] are a disparate but representative group. Three are charter schools. Three are private. One is religious. One is rural. Fifteen are public schools that draw the majority of their students from their local attendance zones—even if they hardly act like local public schools… The stories told here represent the American experience of education...