Description
Book SynopsisWhat is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? This title discusses how these schools work - and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students.
Trade Review"As we try to make sure that no child gets left behind, are we keeping others from getting ahead? Or, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett put it in Exam Schools: 'As the country strives to ... close its wide achievement gaps [and] repair its bad schools ... is it also challenging its high achieving and highly motivated students?' This isn't an easy question to answer... The information they do collect is helpful."--Naomi Schaefer Riley, Wall Street Journal "As we strive to offer better educations to all students, Exam Schools takes the important first steps toward illuminating an option that may eventually have resonance for our public school system as a whole."--Rachael Brown, New Republic "A cogent exploration of the struggle to balance equity and excellence in America's most academically selective public high schools... A fact-driven, clear text that will be of interest to educators as well as parents of students at selective public high schools."--Kirkus Reviews "Could, and should ... academically selective public high schools play a more expansive role in educating the nation's high-potential, high-achieving students[?] These are some of the questions that longtime education pundit Checker Finn, joined by educational consultant Jessica Hockett, set out to answer in their book."--Erik Robelen, Education Week "[E]ye-opening."--Jay Mathews, Washington Post "The subject is one of serious interest to colleges and universities because many of their best-prepared and motivated applicants come from these schools. These are schools and students college admissions officers and professors will want to know about."--Peter Cohee, National Association of Scholars "[T]his book raised important new questions and illuminated largely unknown facts... Finn and Hockett have done something rare in public policy debates: They've raised new issues."--Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post "If you are interested in giving your child or children a superior education, this book is a must-read."--Nano Khilnani, Biz India
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Part I: The Big Picture 5 Chapter 1: History and Context 7 Chapter 2: Searching for Needles in the High School Haystack 22 Chapter 3: Exploring a New Constellation 28 Part II: Inside the Schools 57 Introduction 59 Chapter 4: Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Aurora, IL 61 Chapter 5: School Without Walls, Washington, D.C. 71 Chapter 6: Central High School Magnet Career Academy, Louisville, KY 79 Chapter 7: Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Austin, TX 88 Chapter 8: Jones College Prep, Chicago, IL 96 Chapter 9: Benjamin Franklin High School, New Orleans, LA 106 Chapter 10: Townsend Harris High School, Queens, NY 114 Chapter 11: Pine View School for the Gifted, Osprey, FL 122 Chapter 12: Oxford Academy, Cypress, CA 131 Chapter 13: Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ 140 Chapter 14: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Annandale, VA 149 Chapter 15: Similarities and Differences 159 Part III: Summing Up 167 Chapter 16: Dilemmas and Challenges 169 Chapter 17: Conclusions 188 Appendix I: Selection Process and School List 203 Appendix II: Survey Questions 216 Notes 229 Index 249
