On Urban Education

On the Harlem Children’s Zone: Whatever it Takes, Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America. Paul Tough’s second chapter, Unequal Childhoods is a succinct statement of why parent engagement in early childhood has formed the cornerstone of the HCZ.

Geoffrey Canada on himself: Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America. Canada’s candid memoir is a vivid firsthand perspective on the the influence of parents (or their absence) growing up in the South Bronx.

The NY Times on Roland Fryer: Toward a Unified Theory of Black America. Stephen J. Dubner provides a fascinating peek into the personal history, talents, and passions of one of the world’s brightest young economists.

Former US Assistant Education Secretary on Educational Reform: Changing the Odds for Children at Risk:Seven Essential Principles of Educational Programs That Break the Cycle of Poverty. Susan B. Neuman examines the key levers of real educational reform.

On Stories:

Gladys Hunt on children’s literature:Honey for a Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life. Gladys connects the dots between great stories and the way children learn to make sense of the world around them.

Robert Coles on stories: The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination. Pediatric psychiatrist and Harvard professor Robert Coles shares his journey into literature through the poems of physician William Carlos Williams – and of his own journey through literature in teaching graduate students in many disciplines.