How It's Being Done

How It's Being Done offers direct and much-needed help to educators, providing in-depth accounts of the ways in which unexpected schools-those with high-poverty and high-minority student populations-have dramatically boosted student achievement and diminished (and often eliminated) achievement gaps. How It's Being Done builds on Karin Chenoweth's widely hailed "It's Being Done," providing more detailed and specific information about how such schools have exceeded expectations and met with unprecedented levels of success. An invaluable contribution to the literature on school reform, How It's Being Done thoroughly explores how once-struggling schools have exceeded expectations and reached levels of student achievement that all schools-and the nation as a whole-need to attain in the twenty-first century. "If ever there were a book on education that should be read, it is certainly this one….Chenoweth shows us what it takes to beat the odds against adversity and improve student learning and achievement in schools serving disadvantaged children." - from the forward by Pedro Noguera, professor of teaching and learning, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University "This encouraging and important book is, above all, a good read. Karin Chenoweth is a thoughtful observer, a keen analyst, and a good storyteller." - John Merrow, education correspondent, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and president, Learning Matters "How It's Being Done is a must-read for teachers and administrators who are currently struggling to help disadvantaged and at-risk students. There are invaluable lessons and practical strategies for all educators. I believe that all teachers will take away suggestions that will help them become better teachers." - Paul F. Cain, mathematics and physics teacher, Ysleta High School, El Paso, Texas, and 2008 Texas Teacher of the Year "The schools in How It's Being Done exhibit the same hopeful pattern for successful schooling: teachers and leaders who formulate-and then actually teach to-clear, essential standards; who shun worksheets and movies and who work together to ensure that all students are taught effectively every day, regardless of who their teacher is. This (all too rare) combination cannot fail." - Mike Schmoker, author of Results NOW: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning Karin Chenoweth is a longtime education writer who currently writes for The Education Trust. She wrote a regular column on schools and education for the Washington Post and was a senior writer and executive editor for Black Issues in Higher Education (now Diverse). She is the author of "It's Being Done" (Harvard Education Press).