Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal's Triumph in the Inner City

By Ben Chavis and Carey Blakely

Book Overview

The inspiring true story of one man's determination to make a difference- and the school he changed forever. "If you act like a winner, you'll be treated like a winner. If you act like a fool, you'll be treated like a fool." This is the golden rule set forth by Dr. Ben Chavis, the highly unorthodox principal of Oakland, California's American Indian Public Charter School, which was hailed as an "education miracle" by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after it was transformed from a failing "nuisance" into one of the best public middle schools in the nation. This is the story of how one man, in daring to be different, effected such stunning change. With his rigorous, no-nonsense approach, Dr. Ben Chavis debunks the myth that poor, minority, inner-city schools have little chance at academic excellence. Focusing on back-to-basics ideals, he has created a structured educational model that, combined with the enthusiasm of his students and teachers, delivers astounding results. Now, Dr. Chavis recounts how he did it-in his own words and through the stories of the extraordinary young people he's helped.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451228189
• ISBN13: 9780451228185
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.1" x 6.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Stop the insanity...

Are you tired of seeing children fail in school year after year? There is hope but it comes with a price, change...This book is a roadmap to student academic success that cannot be ignored. Dr. Chavis is a leader that has thrown down the gauntlet. Let's pick it up and run with it. These children deserve it. Crazy Like A Fox is the guide to achieve that goal.

Crazy Like a Fox

Great example of successful inner city education that excels academically. Inspiring, revolutionary approach. Applicable to all public education. Kids can learn. We don't need more money for 5 star education we need motivated, smart leadership,teachers and parents that will get out of the way and let them do their job. Teach language arts and math each for 1.5 hours a day and students will excel in all areas. No fluff, no nonsense, common sense education.

Academic Justice Leads to Social Justice

I heartily recommend that you take time to get to know Dr. Ben Chavis, former principal of the inner-city, Oakland, CA, American Indian Charter Public School (AIPCS), by reading his book, Crazy like a Fox. This book is especially for all those who are concerned and saddened about the current abysmal performance of so many U.S. K-12 schools. This book will either confirm your belief that we can do better educating our children, or it will--if you keep an open mind--challenge your progressive beliefs about the ingredients required for a successful school. It will either confirm your belief that performance is about more than money, food, computers, empathy, self esteem, and politically correct nostrums; or it will hopefully shatter those progressive beliefs which have so clearly failed our failing children. Ben Chavis has now taken his education model public, after turning around AIPCS, turning it around with family, good books, good teachers, a back-to-basics focus, structure, discipline, high expectations, a taste of free market capitalism, accountability and his unique disdain for educational orthodoxy: "Multicultural specialists, ultraliberal zealots, and college-tainted oppression liberators need not apply [for teaching jobs]." But success was not foreordained for his school. In fact, it was just one vote away--within days of Dr. Chavis taking over as principal--from being ordered closed by the school board. I invite you to follow his rescue and recovery, as he replaces a broken faculty, and fixes a dysfunctional curriculum, and imposes structure and discipline on a school without either. On his journey, Dr. Chavis will take away student computers and refuse to offer the federal school lunch program. He will take mirrors out of the student restrooms and require students and parents sign contracts. He will emphasize perfect attendance for all students, paying students at year end if they have zero unexcused absences, and his attendance rates will climb each year from around 65% to about 98%. He will require teachers focus on teaching language arts (reading, writing, grammar) and math each class day, allocating 90 minutes to each subject. He will adopt an educational model that focuses on the student, requiring approved texts, retaining only quality teachers, administering a program of accountability with an emphasis on rewards for achievement and punishment for misconduct. And during that time, gradually building on success, his middle school's performance results will slowly climb from subterranean levels to the top of the performance charts, reaching the magic 800, the benchmark of excellence on the California Academic Performance Index, subsequently with breakneck speed the scores climb above 900, distinguishing the school as one of the top 10 in the state, garnering national recognition for his Oakland school. And along the way he sets Olympian goals for his students. Eventually, he expands his model, adding an AIPCS high school and a se

One of the three best books on education ever

STOP THE PRESSES!!!! Crazy Like A Fox is one of the three best books on education I've ever read. (My other two all-time favorite books are both by Jay Mathews: Escalante, the best book about an individual teacher, and Work Hard, Be Nice, the best book about entrepreneurship in education, building one school into a national network.) Crazy Like A Fox rounds out the list. It is by far the best book I've ever read in explaining, in no uncertain terms, exactly what is the No Excuses educational philosophy, which is shared by nearly every school that successfully educates low-income, minority children. As such, this book should be required reading for every teacher and principal who is educating such kids. The book is written by Dr. Ben Chavis, who turned around the worst school in Oakland, the American Indian Public Charter School, and has expanded it to five charter schools in the city, all of which are among the top 1% of public schools in California and three of which are in the top 10 schools statewide according to the state's Academic Performance Index scores. These results certainly aren't due to favorable demographics -- in fact, at the original AIPCS school, 97% of the students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, 98% are minorities and 74% speak English as a second language. Chavis has an amazing story, starting with his childhood of extreme poverty in rural North Carolina with a violent and largely absent father. He says that of all of the inner-city Oakland students who've ever attended one of his schools, not one of them had a childhood as bad as his -- and he's no doubt right. Chavis describes himself as "a country Indian from the South, who was a sharecropper with uneducated parents, who paid his way through college and sent his family money each semester, and who graduated from a state university..." But what's most interesting to me is his version of the No Excuses philosophy of how to educate poor, minority children. It's similar to other comparable high-performing schools, but Chavis takes it to an extreme. It starts with his Golden Rule: "If you act like a fool, you'll be treated like a fool. If you act like a winner, you'll be treated like a winner." He lavishes praise and will do anything for kids who work hard and play by the rules -- but woe unto the student who acts like a fool. To them, Chavis turns into one of the craziest, scariest, meanest dudes on the planet. Ditto for parents and teachers who act like fools. He's borderline crazy (and proud of it), but it works! There are two reasons why this is such a great book: A) It's filled with great advice and wisdom that any educator will find useful (even if one doesn't agree with all of it); and B) It's the most entertainingly politically incorrect book I've ever read -- by far! He speaks harsh truths and takes special joy in debunking left-wing dingbat liberal dogma.

A principal's triumph is an amazing story

"Crazy Like a Fox" is a mesmerizing book. I expected a tedious account of an attempt to bring a school back from the edge, but after a page or two, I discovered I couldn't put it down. Carey Blakely's writing makes an interesting story even more captivating. What Ben Chavez accomplished, how he did it and how Blakely tells the story makes for one of the best books I've read this year. I won't ruin the fun by saying more about the story. I hope everyone in education, every parent and all the people who love to read will get this book.