1st Edition

Building a Learning Culture in America

By Kevin Chavous Copyright 2016
    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    Building a Learning Culture in America takes an incisive, no-holds-barred look at how America embraced and cultivated a culture of learning in the past, how that culture declined in the sixties and seventies, and what must be done to regain it. From political gridlock to systemic discrimination, Chavous details the many ways education today is off track, and cites specific examples of what Americans might do to reform it.

    Part memoir and part manifesto, this is a frank, fascinating, and personal account of Chavous' experience as a politician working to enact school choice in Washington, DC, and throughout the United States. During the course of his political career, he has seen political skirmishes and party scuffles interfere with the United States' ability to improve its educational system. These conflicts did not cause the problem; they were merely a result. The true problem was more basic: the decline of America's learning culture.

    This pivotal work calls for Americans to unite in making the changes needed to re-establish a learning culture as an inherent piece of the American national fabric, and tells us how to begin.

    Contents

    Foreword

    Preface

    Acknowledgments

    Endorsements

    Introduction

    Part 1. The Politics of Reform—My Struggle for School Choice

    1 My Personal History of Learning

    2 A Look at Education in America
    The Creation of an Education System “For All”
    1960s and 1970s: In the Midst of Great Change,
    Our Schools Remained Stagnant

    3 A Nation at Risk: Then and Now
    A Nation at Risk
    The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools

    4 Equal Opportunity Education: A Civil Rights Issue
    A Family History of Activism
    Experiencing Racism Firsthand

    5 Public Service in Our Nation’s Capital

    6 Heading Up the Education Committee

    7 Running for Mayor and Growing Charter Schools in DC

    8 School Vouchers in DC

    9 Losing My Council Seat and Joining the Education Reform Movement

    10 Glimmers of Hope

    Part 2. Achieving Reform: Building a Learning Culture in America

    Introduction

    11 Establishing a New Brand of Nationalism

    12 Removing Politics

    13 All Children Can Learn

    14 Encouraging Education Activism

    15 Considering How Other Cultures Teach and Learn

    16 Let Us Model Our Learning Culture Movement on Other Successful Social Change Movements
    The Civil Rights Movement
    The Environmental Movement
    Gay Rights Movement
    Public Health Movement
    Technology’s Role in Enacting Social Change
    The Learning Culture Movement

    17 Trusted Voices Championing the Cause

    18 Celebrating Models and Teachers That Work

    Part 3. Some Success Stories

    19 Three Schools and One School District with Great
    Teachers and a Learning Culture
    Salemwood School
    Houston Heights Learning Academy
    Village Leadership Academy
    The Lindsay Unified School District

    Conclusion: Finding Hope

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Kevin Chavous