How Schools Work

An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation's Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education

By: Arne Duncan

Narrated by: Arne Duncan

From the Secretary of Education under President Obama, an exposé of the status quo that helps maintain a broken system at the expense of our kids’ education.

“Education runs on lies. That’s probably not what you’d expect from a former Secretary of Education, but it’s the truth.” So opens Arne Duncan’s How Schools Work, although the title could just as easily be How American Schools Work for Some, Not for Others, and Only Now and Then for Kids.

Drawing on nearly three decades in education - from his mother’s after-school program on Chicago’s South Side to his tenure as Secretary of Education in DC - How Schools Work follows Arne (as he insists you call him) as he takes on challenges at every turn: gangbangers in Chicago housing projects, parents who call him racist, teachers who insist they can’t help poor kids, unions that refuse to modernize, Tea Partiers who call him an autocrat, affluent white progressive moms who hate yearly tests, and even the NRA, which once labeled Arne the “most extreme anti-gun member of President Obama's Cabinet.” Going to a child’s funeral every couple of weeks, as he did when he worked in Chicago, will do that to a person.

How Schools Work exposes the lies that have caused American kids to fall behind their international peers, from early childhood all the way to college graduation rates. But it also celebrates the countless everyday heroes Arne has encountered along the way: teachers, principals, reformers, staffers, business people, mayors, and presidents.

How Schools Work will inspire parents, teachers, voters, and even students to demand more of our public schools. If America is going to be great, then we can accept nothing less.

©2018 Arne Duncan (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Education leads the way

thought provoking, concise in layman's terms explains the needs for great teachers and education leaders to put America back on top in education and world leadership. 1st step in leading the world is educating all of our children.

Absolutely Loved this Book

From the storyline to the passion felt in every word spoken, this book was exceptional.

Such an important book

5th year teacher. I was informed, moved, inspired, angry, and recharged. Thank you for all of the hard work you’ve done and continue to do. And thank you for giving voice to the many that would normally go unheard.

Spectacular

Arne Duncan has inspired me to investigate education law and reform in America. He opened my eyes to the issues not only facing Illinois, but the entire country. This book is a must-read for educators across the country no matter your political affiliation.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Former Secretary Duncan writes and releases more books! .

Exceptional and much needed book - must read

Timely and outstanding look into the U.S. educational system - a must read for all.

This is a must read for people interested in education

Arne gives an account that is not available to others. He sees both the need to look at the individual and the system as a whole. It is refreshing to have someone in leadership who focuses on that which is most important the kids!

doesn't explain how schools actually work.

Was looking for a detailed description of how the school system works, this doesn't dothat.

Democrat who seeks change in public education.

I give Duncan credit for acknowledging that teacher unions perpetuate bad teachers, which itself is the biggest single cause of the poor being trapped in poverty. But his left political bias prevents him from seeing the path to education reform. Instead of admitting the abject failure of $1 trillion / year invested in public education, he’s calling for more money to chase after bad. Very sad.

Terrific

Arne Duncan has told us a story that we all know much about. Maybe never told so well.
In the end, our democracy experiment is failing because of our unwillingness to assure that all Americans can really take advantage of equal opportunity. It’s just not the case and he shows us this through his lifetime of service. Every American should read this.
Plus it’s a well-told story, so not that hard to read or value the time it takes.

Strayed off topic regularly.

I was hopeful, having heard his interview on NPR regarding this book... but I was quickly disappointed.

As a school superintendent, this book was difficult for me to muddle through. It is full of self- grandeur, with Arne telling the reader how great the feds are with federal programs like as No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, etc. If any of those federal overreaches worked, we wouldn’t be in the state that we are in with our American education system.

Many of his stories were unrelated to our educational and completely unnecessary-he even managed to work and is anti-gun rhetoric towards the end of the book. I found the last 1/4 of the book to be generally useless as it relates t I proving education, as he rants about white privilege, mis-policing, etc.

Overall, this book had great potential but went nowhere as it relates to tangible ways to improve education. As an educator, I was disappointed in what could have (and perhaps should have) been a great read.