Synopsis

What makes a good school? A prominent Harvard educator looks for the answers in six schools that have earned reputations for excellence: George Washington Carver High School in Atlanta; John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, New York; Highland Park High School near Chicago; Bookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts; St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire; and the Milton Academy, near Boston.

Biography

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and MacArthur genius award winner. (A named chair was created this spring in her honor.) She is the author of The Good High School (Basic), Balm in Gilead (AWL and Penguin), and I’ve Known Rivers (AWL and Penguin). Each of these books, as well as Respect, uses a vivid technique of portraiture, for which she has become known both to scholars and devoted readers.