Richard Whitmire is a former reporter and editorialist for USA Today, and the author of The Bee Eater (about Michelle Rhee) and Why Boys Fail. Now, in his latest book, On the Rocketship, he turns his attention to “how top charter schools are pushing the envelope.” Through dozens of short chapters he tells the story of the meteoric growth of the Rocketship network of charter schools, known as a leader in “blended learning,” along with the trials and tribulations of other charter chains. He looks for insights into how other charter schools—and traditional public schools—can learn from their successes and failures.
On this edition of the Education Next Book Club, Richard talks with Mike Petrilli about the book, about Rocketship and other high performing charter networks, and what he learned that surprised him most.
Additional episodes of the Education Next Book Club can be found here.
-Education Next
