Description
Book SynopsisCreating the Ideal School is the only comprehensive guide available that provides all the tools necessary to create an ideal school. There are many education books out there but most are specific to one aspect of school improvement and do not provide a systemic framework or a total approach. This book does, and it is based on expertise that was developed and implemented in a real school district with impressive results by author Albert Mamary. Under the author's leadership, an under-achieving and troubled upstate New York school district was transformed into a nationally validated high-performing school system, and Dr. Mamary was credited with creating the first and only comprehensive systemic framework for quality learning and school improvement. This book will be of interest to teachers and administrators who are interested in making profound improvements in education.
Trade ReviewCreating the Ideal School is a carefully considered, heartfelt philosophy of teaching—a philosophy of and for education that is nothing short of electrifying. A philosophy that unequivocally states that, given time, every child is capable of learning. A philosophy that not only proposes but that has shown, experientially, that it works. This book is an extraordinary and necessary enterprise. -- Fannie Linder, psychotherapist and former classroom teacher
Creating the Ideal School is a vital and timely book, documenting the best practices associated with demonstrated high standards for student performance and systems design in a time of rapid change for American public schools. The Mamary method breaks away from the factory models of the past, bringing contemporary educators carefully prescribed methods of delivering precise support to all learners in time, on time, every time. Teachers in my district were heard to say, to scream, to hoist on banners in the hall: 'We Love Al.' At a time when the rest of the nation bemoans standardized testing and the rigors of systems adjustments tailored to failing schools, Al Mamary has invested in the future by bringing us hope and instructional improvements by design. These he has in abundance. -- Patricia Dovi, superintendent of schools, St. Regis Falls Central School District, New York
I sincerely believe our political decision-makers in Washington and the U.S. Department of Education should make sure that every key educational decision-maker at national and state levels and every public and private school in our nation receives at least one copy of Creating the Ideal School, as this would be the best possible investment in credible, cost-effective schooling for all of our children and youth. -- Dr. Floyd McDowell, Partners for Quality Learning
In my book, The Quality School, I wrote "[Albert Mamary's] Johnson City Schools are probably the best model in the United States of what could be called quality schools." Anyone interested in improving student achievement and preparing our students to compete in the world market will find this book rewarding and a must read. Creating the Ideal School will be useful in the training of new teachers and administrators as well as those who have been in the profession a long time. -- from the foreword by William Glasser, M.D., internationally recognized psychiatrist and author of Reality Therapy, a method of psychotherapy he created in 1965 and that is
This is a unique guide for school leaders. I can imagine a harried building- or district-level administrator relating to the clarity and reasonableness of the author's ideas. The prose is straightforward and conversational. Mamary talks to the reader as though he or she is across the table with a pot of coffee and some time to spend. -- Robert Carpenter, interim dean, Binghamton University, New York
Table of Contents1 Here We Go Again 2 Characteristics of an Ideal School 3 It's All in the Perception 4 The School 5 Vision and Mission 6 Best Knowledge, Research Literature, and Data 7 Beliefs, Values, and Dominant Philosophy 8 Relationships, Culture, and Dominant Psychology 9 Children as Students 10 Teaching, Learning, and the Teacher 11 Curriculum Planning 12 Classroom Practices 13 The Principal 14 Continuing Assessment, Renewal, and Improvement 15 Continuing Professional Education for Staff
