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Deborah Meier has for twenty years led
one of the most remarkable public schools in the country,
Central Park East (CPE) in East Harlem, where 90 percent
of the students graduate high school and 90 percent of those
go on to college, this in a city where the average graduation
rate is 50 percent. CPE is a school where inner-city kids
and teachers experience and act on the "power of their
ideas," and it has been called the best school in New
York City. As founder and advocate, Meier has won national
acclaim as a leading voice and visionary writer in education.
In this long-awaited book, Meier issues
an eloquent, timely defense of public education. Taking
on pessimists and privatizers, she tells us why public education
is vital to the future of our democracy and our kids.
Equally important, she shows why good education is possible
for all our children, starting with the remarkable
success story of Central Park East.
Drawing on her life as a teacher and principal,
Meier argues for radical innovation: for breaking up huge
schools into small schools; for choice within the public
school system; for respect; for teaching that connects learning
to real-world activities; for a new ideal of being "well-educated."
This is a book for everyone who cares about
our schools -- suburban, urban, and rural. The small, respectful,
exciting community of learning in East Harlem can, Meier
argues, serve as a model for transforming all our schools.
The Power of Their Ideas is a book for anyone who
shares the vision that all kids can learn to be powerful
thinkers, powerful citizens.
Deborah Meier began her teaching career
as a kindergarten teacher in Chicago. She has honorary degrees
from Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Columbia's Teachers College.
She received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for her work
in New York. She has written for The Nation, Dissent,
and many other publications. Codirector of Central Park
East for twenty years, Meier is currently leading an effort
to create fifty more innovative public schools in New York
City. She is president of the Center for Collaborative Education
in New York and a part-time fellow at the Annenberg National
Institute for School Reform at Brown University.
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