Redesigning Schools: Lessons for the 21st Century

by Joseph P. McDonald

"Should be read by all who are not satisfied with the status quo in education."
--Teachers College Record

This book patiently and persuasively asks us to rethink before we redesign' schools, to question many of our deeply ingrained beliefs about learning and schooling, and to move beyond those which no longer meet the test of common sense. It mercifully gives us no ready-to-implement school reform blueprint but rather the necessary design...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787903213
• ISBN13: 9780787903213
• Release Date: December 1996
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

This book is a must read for all educators.

I must start my review by telling you that I truly enjoyed this book! It was easy to read and McDonald made it so that all readers could relate, regardless of our school situation. Joseph McDonald makes some very interesting remarks about what we must unlearn as educators, in order to have successful schools. He also mentions that each reform must be individual to each school and that not one single plan fits every school. He goes on to talk about how the factory model does not work especially when it come to the urban poor. He talks about the fact the sacrificing the urban poor is not an option, even when doing so means that affluent students will do better in life, due to this sacrifice.McDonald calls for the radical reform of American schools. He states that the number one goal for schools should be to educate all students to use their minds well. He also states that schools must scale down, a process in which, as he puts it, the right people care about the right thing. I call this process establishing ownership of your students, school, and community. This book is a must read for all educators.

McDonald points school reform into the 21st century

Joseph McDonald presents an intriguing look at the elements necessary for school reform to successfully occur in the 21st century. His presentation of the material is straightforward and readable. His points are relevant and necessary. Some of what he says has been standard fare in school reform movements for many years, yet he goes on to present some bold new ideas that will certainly make traditional thinkers uneasy.McDonald divides his book into three parts: believing, wiring, and tuning. Part one, believing, is a values issue. What do schools believe? What knowledge does It cherish? What does school propose to accomplish? A vision must be established within the administration, teachers, students, and community for redesign to truly occur. Part three, tuning, is aligning the values of the outside community with the values of the school itself. Tuning is about resources for teacher learning and student learning. Tuning is about schools responding to the needs of the community's political, economic, and cultural forces. Tuning is figuring out how to know, weigh, and arbitrate these forces. Parts one and three are established truisms that have led school reform efforts for years. Part two, wiring, is more revolutionary than parts one and three. Wiring, according to McDonald, is more than what it appears on the surface. Wiring is about relationships. Wiring is the distribution of energy, information, and power. Wiring is designing the interrelationships between curriculum, accountability, and governance. McDonald proposes that schools be wired to give information access to all people all the time. The current wiring structure in schools allows administrators to control the information it wishes teachers to have. It allows teachers to control the information it wishes students to receive. The control of information is the control of power. Wiring schools for the future is realigning the power structures that define traditional schools. This concept will be hard for many educators to accept, let ! alone embrace.