On the Rocketship
How Top Charter Schools are Pushing the Envelope
1st Edition
Published on 4. July 2014
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-118-60764-0 (ISBN)
Description
The face of American education is evolving--and the roadmap is clear
On the Rocketship: How Top Charter Schools are Pushing the Envelope examines the rise and expansion of leading charter school network Rocketship, revealing the "secret sauce" that makes a successful program. A strong narrative with a timely message, the book explores how Rocketship started and the difficulties encountered as it expands. Designing schools for children who have been failed by traditional schools is extremely challenging work. Setbacks are inevitable. Later in the book the narrative shifts to the national picture, exploring how high performing charter schools are changing the education landscape in cities such as Denver, Memphis, and Houston. The book emerges just as charter schools are running into stiff political opposition in New York City and elsewhere. Even in San Jose, Rocketship's home base, the pushback against charter schools is gaining speed. On the Rocketship becomes a valuable resource for explaining what's at stake in this battle. Lose these schools, in New York, San Jose and other cities, and low-income and minority students lose their best shot at a quality education.
Written by a veteran journalist who followed Rocketship through a school year, the book explores some of the factors that make Rocketship and other charters successful, including the blended learning that was pioneered at charter schools, especially Rocketship.
Many schools around the country are looking to Rocketship as a model for implementing blended learning, and over three million K-12 students have taken an online course. The interplay between charter schools and blended learning is setting a change in motion, and the American education system is ready to evolve. On the Rocketship details this phenomenon, providing insights for educators across the nation.
On the Rocketship: How Top Charter Schools are Pushing the Envelope examines the rise and expansion of leading charter school network Rocketship, revealing the "secret sauce" that makes a successful program. A strong narrative with a timely message, the book explores how Rocketship started and the difficulties encountered as it expands. Designing schools for children who have been failed by traditional schools is extremely challenging work. Setbacks are inevitable. Later in the book the narrative shifts to the national picture, exploring how high performing charter schools are changing the education landscape in cities such as Denver, Memphis, and Houston. The book emerges just as charter schools are running into stiff political opposition in New York City and elsewhere. Even in San Jose, Rocketship's home base, the pushback against charter schools is gaining speed. On the Rocketship becomes a valuable resource for explaining what's at stake in this battle. Lose these schools, in New York, San Jose and other cities, and low-income and minority students lose their best shot at a quality education.
Written by a veteran journalist who followed Rocketship through a school year, the book explores some of the factors that make Rocketship and other charters successful, including the blended learning that was pioneered at charter schools, especially Rocketship.
Many schools around the country are looking to Rocketship as a model for implementing blended learning, and over three million K-12 students have taken an online course. The interplay between charter schools and blended learning is setting a change in motion, and the American education system is ready to evolve. On the Rocketship details this phenomenon, providing insights for educators across the nation.
More details
Content
Introduction
Part I: The Players
Rocketship Finally Launches outside California
John Danner
Preston Smith
Danner's Big Pivot
Part II: The Startup Years
A Charter Fund Designed to Nurture Top CMOs
Did the Butterfly Effect Give Wings to Rocketship?
Hurricane Katrina
Startup Meets Smokestack
Sci-Fi-Inspired Software
Joel Klein Does the Unexpected
Recruiting the Key (Outside) Players
The Hard Sell: Pitching the First Rocketship
Opening Mateo Sheedy: Tough Times
NewSchools Launches Charter Accelerator Fund II
How to Build a Fibonacci School
Part III: The Growth Years
The Ideal Personnel Department? Not within Rocketship
Alum Rock Rejects Rocketship. Is That a Bad Thing?
Rocketship Finds a Friend
Charter School Growth Fund Puts Rocketship on the Map
Slivka's Sci-Fi Software Gets Shipped: DreamBox
Rocketship Wins Five More Charters
Finding Karen Martinez. It's an Art
Achievement Gaps in Fabulous Silicon Valley?
District-Charters Compact Launched
Danner (and Reed Hastings) Discover DreamBox
Yet Another Boring Education Book? Not Exactly?
States Repeal Charter Restrictions (Okay, a Bribe Was Involved)
Fresh Charter Strategy from the Department of Education
Growing the High-Performing (and Blended) Charters
Double Setbacks. Rocketship Changes Course
A Corporate Jet Packed with Movers and Shakers Touches Down
Leaders of Top Charters Tapped as State Commissioners
Top Charters to Get Stiff Test
Blended Learning Rocketship Style: This Stuff Works!
KIPP Opens Its One-Hundredth School
A Discovery That Would Lead to Big Changes (and Bigger Drama)
Rocketship Bids Big: Give Us Twenty More Charters in Santa Clara County
Setting Up Rocketship to Fail?
Rocketship Doubles Down on a Reinvention
One Million Rocketship Students by 2030? Not Happening
Rocketship and Unions: It's Complicated; A Rocketship Teacher Sits down with a Union Leader--Her Mother
Early Fallout from Model Change
The Pushback Gets Real: The Fight over Tamien
Part IV: The Push to Expand outside San Jose
Welcome to South Milwaukee
A Power Play Backfires
School Starts in Seven Months--but Only Three Sign-ups!
Danner Steps Down; Smith Steps Up
Milwaukee Gets a Shakeup
Stretching to Lure Top Charters: The San Antonio Story
Smith's Worst Monday Ever
Exactly What Kind of a Difference Can a Fibonacci School Make?
Milwaukee Looking Up (a Bit)
Two Charters Make the Top Five List
If Rocketship Is the Digital Future Why Do Its Schools Look So Ordinary?
Fibonacci Developments in Massachusetts
More Progress in Milwaukee
A Day in the Life: Rocketship's Flagship School, Mateo Sheedy
Fresh Turbulence in Milwaukee
Surprise Shift on TFA
Milwaukee Parents Name Their School: Southside Prep
Rumor Just In: Rocketship Falls through the Ice
A Fibonacci Charter Group Is Honored
Build, Measure, Learn. Rinse, Repeat
One Month before Southside Prep Opens
How Many Sharon Kims Are out There?
Eva Makes Life Hard for Her Many Critics
Opening Week at Southside Prep
California Test Scores Released
Part V: The Future for Rocketship and Other High Performers
Answering the Fibonacci Question: Will Rocketship Make It Big?
Fibonacci Charters Summoned to Memphis
Houston's Spring Branch Schools: The Future?
Where's the Tipping Point?
The Tennessee Launch
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index
Part I: The Players
Rocketship Finally Launches outside California
John Danner
Preston Smith
Danner's Big Pivot
Part II: The Startup Years
A Charter Fund Designed to Nurture Top CMOs
Did the Butterfly Effect Give Wings to Rocketship?
Hurricane Katrina
Startup Meets Smokestack
Sci-Fi-Inspired Software
Joel Klein Does the Unexpected
Recruiting the Key (Outside) Players
The Hard Sell: Pitching the First Rocketship
Opening Mateo Sheedy: Tough Times
NewSchools Launches Charter Accelerator Fund II
How to Build a Fibonacci School
Part III: The Growth Years
The Ideal Personnel Department? Not within Rocketship
Alum Rock Rejects Rocketship. Is That a Bad Thing?
Rocketship Finds a Friend
Charter School Growth Fund Puts Rocketship on the Map
Slivka's Sci-Fi Software Gets Shipped: DreamBox
Rocketship Wins Five More Charters
Finding Karen Martinez. It's an Art
Achievement Gaps in Fabulous Silicon Valley?
District-Charters Compact Launched
Danner (and Reed Hastings) Discover DreamBox
Yet Another Boring Education Book? Not Exactly?
States Repeal Charter Restrictions (Okay, a Bribe Was Involved)
Fresh Charter Strategy from the Department of Education
Growing the High-Performing (and Blended) Charters
Double Setbacks. Rocketship Changes Course
A Corporate Jet Packed with Movers and Shakers Touches Down
Leaders of Top Charters Tapped as State Commissioners
Top Charters to Get Stiff Test
Blended Learning Rocketship Style: This Stuff Works!
KIPP Opens Its One-Hundredth School
A Discovery That Would Lead to Big Changes (and Bigger Drama)
Rocketship Bids Big: Give Us Twenty More Charters in Santa Clara County
Setting Up Rocketship to Fail?
Rocketship Doubles Down on a Reinvention
One Million Rocketship Students by 2030? Not Happening
Rocketship and Unions: It's Complicated; A Rocketship Teacher Sits down with a Union Leader--Her Mother
Early Fallout from Model Change
The Pushback Gets Real: The Fight over Tamien
Part IV: The Push to Expand outside San Jose
Welcome to South Milwaukee
A Power Play Backfires
School Starts in Seven Months--but Only Three Sign-ups!
Danner Steps Down; Smith Steps Up
Milwaukee Gets a Shakeup
Stretching to Lure Top Charters: The San Antonio Story
Smith's Worst Monday Ever
Exactly What Kind of a Difference Can a Fibonacci School Make?
Milwaukee Looking Up (a Bit)
Two Charters Make the Top Five List
If Rocketship Is the Digital Future Why Do Its Schools Look So Ordinary?
Fibonacci Developments in Massachusetts
More Progress in Milwaukee
A Day in the Life: Rocketship's Flagship School, Mateo Sheedy
Fresh Turbulence in Milwaukee
Surprise Shift on TFA
Milwaukee Parents Name Their School: Southside Prep
Rumor Just In: Rocketship Falls through the Ice
A Fibonacci Charter Group Is Honored
Build, Measure, Learn. Rinse, Repeat
One Month before Southside Prep Opens
How Many Sharon Kims Are out There?
Eva Makes Life Hard for Her Many Critics
Opening Week at Southside Prep
California Test Scores Released
Part V: The Future for Rocketship and Other High Performers
Answering the Fibonacci Question: Will Rocketship Make It Big?
Fibonacci Charters Summoned to Memphis
Houston's Spring Branch Schools: The Future?
Where's the Tipping Point?
The Tennessee Launch
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index