Understanding How School Change Really Happens

Achieving school reform is a long arduous process. If one were to tell it like it is the effort is usually wrought with problems that most change agents are not fully prepared for problems such as the drudgery the exhaustion the conflicts between outsiders and insiders the confusion over goals and the adversarial relationships that develop among teachers and parents. However preparedness and a realistic awareness of what to expect can mean the difference between a failed attempt and an ongoing process of positive though often incremental change. Rosetta Cohen tells a singular story of one high school''s struggle to remake itself. This is the story of the Quest Program a teacher-designed experiment in curricular reform. The participants - teachers administrators students parents and college collaborators - worked together to create an alternative class of ninth graders with the goal of promoting critical thinking and high self-esteem simultaneously.