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"Here we have the astonishingly frank, fascinating, and persuasively hot story of a time of turmoil and massive change in a big city school system, written by an active member of its school board. McAdams’ book tells a spell-binding story, reminding us that serious reform of public education requires profoundly fresh thinking."
–Theodore R. Sizer, Chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools
"Don McAdams’ book is a rarity in education: a real page-turner. This is a compelling story of urban school reform in Houston, where the reformers were willing to try anything to help kids. And the results have been very impressive. Houston today is a symbol of what can be done by determined leaders."
–Diane Ravitch, Research Professor, New York University
Don McAdams, one of a small group of activists elected to the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in 1989, provides a fast moving first-person account of successful reform in the nation’s seventh largest school district. With tact and wisdom, the author shows that school reform is seldom about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Rather, it is mostly about power, status, and money. This is a great story filled with conflict and surprising turns of fate. No one interested in politics, governance, and management of urban school districts can afford to miss Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools . . . and Winning!
Don McAdams is currently a Research Professor at and Director of the Center for Reform of School Systems, University of Houston, and is also serving his third four-year term as a member of the Houston Independent School District Board of Education.
