Sam Chaltain is a former educator and writer who has spent his career focused on issues including the First Amendment, democratic schooling, and social and emotional learning.
Now, in his latest book, Our School, he turns his attention to two big themes: community and choice.
He follows two public schools in Washington, D.C. over the course of a year—one a brand-new progressive charter school, and the other a hundred-year-old neighborhood school now experiencing the early stages of gentrification. Through the stories of these two schools he addresses the meaning of community in multicultural America, the pros and cons of school choice, and what this all means for today’s big education policy debates.
In this episode of the Ed Next Book Club podcast, Mike Petrilli talks with Sam about the book, the two schools, and how this experience has changed his views on community and choice.
Additional installments of the Ed Next Book Club podcast can be heard here.
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-Education Next
