Table Of ContentGrassroots School Reform
Previous Publications by the Author:
A Fieldbook for Community College Online Instructors (2007).
Leadership as Service: A New Model for Higher Education in a New Century (2007).
Grassroots School Reform
A Community Guide to
Developing Globally
Competitive Students
Kent A. Farnsworth
Palgrave
macmillan
GRASSROOTS SCHOOL REFORM
Copyright © Kent A. Farnsworth, 2010.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-10832-5
All rights reserved.
Cover Photo by Sandra Cunningham, 2010. Used under license from
Shutterstock.com.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-10833-2 ISBN 978-0-230-11466-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230114661
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Farnsworth, Kent Allen.
Grassroots school reform : a community guide to developing globally
competitive students / Kent A. Farnsworth.
p. cm.
(alk. paper)
1. School improvement programs—United States. 2. Charter
schools—United States. 3. Schools—Decentralization—United States.
4. Education and globalization—United States. I. Title.
LB2822.82.F37 2010
371.2(cid:2)070973—dc22 2010014273
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: November 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing in 2012
To my wife, Holly,
whose commitment to great teaching and
to her students’ success always give me hope
C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
One We Need School Reform—and Soon! 3
Two Where Are We Doing It Right? 13
Three Where Reform Won’t Happen 27
Four Getting Someone to be Responsible 39
Five Finding and Supporting Great Leadership 49
Six Developing a World Class Curriculum 59
Seven Math as the Language of Science and Technology 73
Eight Second Language from the Start 85
Nine “Let Me Show You The World” 93
Ten Hiring, Developing, and Evaluating for Excellence 107
Eleven K eeping Teachers Current, Enthusiastic, and
Energized 119
Twelve Reinterpreting “Least Restrictive Environment” 131
Thirteen Providing Choice in the Public Arena 137
Fourteen Legislating for Change 143
Fifteen Managing with Data 151
Sixteen Building Successful Partnerships 167
Seventeen Sustaining and Enhancing Reform 175
Eighteen The Rescuer’s 12-Step-Guide to School Reform 183
Notes 193
Index 205
A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
In several places in this book I mention Mirra Anson who assisted through-
out its development as a research and editorial assistant, idea generator,
and cheerleader. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for her tireless
work and constant good humor. Thank you, Mirra. I am eternally grate-
ful. A number of people also offered personal experiences, observations,
and practices that served as inspiration and example: Derek Urhahn and
the faculty and staff at Leopold R-III Schools, Scott Shirey and the faculty
and staff at KIPP’s Delta College Prep, Steve Baugh, E. Allen Bateman,
Richard Clement, Brian Croone, Jennifer Cuevas, Rudy Farber, David
Farnsworth, Dean Farnsworth, Gib Garrow, Holly Jacobs, Beth Janssen,
Barbara Lontz, Charles McClain, Ken Owen, Juliet Scherer, Terry Suarez,
and Jim Tatum. Thanks to each of you for your invaluable assistance. My
youngest son Paul generously allowed me to use some of our travel expe-
riences as examples, and his wife Jillian assisted with an attractive and
appealing cover design. I am very grateful to you both.
My special thanks to Mary Ann Lee whose generous support to the
University of Missouri-St. Louis endowed the faculty position that enabled
me to do this work, and to Burke Gerstenschlager and Samantha Hasey
at Palgrave Macmillan for their helpful advice, advocacy, and editorial
assistance. This was truly a collaborative endeavor.
Introduction
Like many parents, mine thought that I would benefit from playing a
musical instrument and arranged for me to take both piano and violin les-
sons when I was young. I didn’t particularly care for either and remember
complaining about the burdens of both practice and recitals to a trusted
leader of a church youth group, confiding that what I wanted more than
anything in the world was to be able to play the guitar like some of the
pop music greats of that time.
“Do you have a guitar,” he asked?
I told him that my parents had given me one for Christmas—a very
nice acoustic guitar that I really liked.
“Do you practice much?”
“Yeah, I get it out sometimes and practice some chords. But when the
weather’s good, I’d rather be out shooting baskets.”
“Then I would guess that it’s not what you want more than anything
else in the world,” he said. “I think that what we really want the most in
the world are the things we spend our time and energy trying to get.”
If we were to ask parents what they want more than anything else for
their children, most would probably say that they would like them to be
happy, healthy, and financially secure, with satisfying personal and per-
haps spiritual relationships in their lives. But, for many, these “greatest
wants” are a bit like my wish to be an accomplished guitarist—something
they commit time and effort to only when a myriad of other distractions
don’t pull them away. They do own the guitar—the instrument that could
provide a number of these greatest wishes—but they choose not to com-
mit the time and energy needed to make the wishes a reality.
In an Op-Ed article in the New York Times, columnist and futurist
Tom Friedman recounted a conversation with Todd Martin, a prominent
business executive-turned international investor, during which Martin
explained why the recession of 2008–2009 was about much more than
a collapse of Wall Street and the housing market. “Our education failure
is the largest contributing factor to the decline of the American worker’s
global competitiveness, particularly at the middle and bottom ranges,”
Martin argued, then explained that our loss of competitiveness has compro-
mised our own productivity at the exact time technology has heightened
international competition. Our standard of living in the United States has
2 Grassroots School Reform
been based on borrowing and consuming beyond our incomes, so when
the recession wiped out credit and devalued our major assets, many of us
found ourselves unemployed or underemployed and lacking the skills to
get back into the new globally competitive marketplace.1
Friedman goes on to explain that the “New Untouchables” in the post-
recession job market will be those who have not only a solid secondary
and college education, but training that assists the student in developing a
sense of “entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.” The bottom line,
he argues, is that there will be no complete postrecession recovery “with-
out fixing our schools as well as our banks.”2 And therein lies the ability
held by all parents to give their children the gift of a promising future—
their schools. While parents working collectively within their communi-
ties cannot fix Wall Street, they can fix their schools. And if what they
want more than anything for their children is economic success, health,
and personal well-being, this is where they will focus their attention.
They may dream of Junior becoming a running back in the NFL or
of Missy starring on the pro tennis circuit and prefer to dedicate all of
their extra time and attention to supporting local high school athletics
or the youth tennis and football programs in their communities. But the
chances of a high school athlete becoming a player in the NFL are nearly
a million to one, while the odds are even for the likelihood of financial
success for a student with a strong secondary and college education who
has developed a spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity. Add
fluency in Arabic, Farsi, or Mandarin Chinese, and the future is virtually
assured. And while no parent can guarantee that spot in pro athletics to
her child, with the right degree of commitment and the right relationship
with the community’s schools, most parents can assure their children a
good education.
But to provide our children with a great education—with the globally
competitive education Todd Martin was discussing with Tom Friedman—
our schools need to be fixed. And, here again, parents who want a bright
future for their children more than anything else in the world can make
that happen. This book is about how it can be done. It explains that
great schools are products of their communities—of the families who live
within the districts and select the school leadership. It demonstrates that
great schools are not a product of huge financial investment, but of huge
commitment— commitment to good and courageous leadership, to strong
curriculum, and to high expectations. If we wish more than anything else
in the world to create a bright future for our children, the power is in our
hands, and we can reform America’s schools by rescuing the one in our
own community.
