Getting It Right: Dynamic School Renewal, Fixing What’s Broken is an eloquent and honest account of the status of public schools in the United States. I stand in awe of Dr. Parrish’s courage, honesty, and determination in bringing the shortcomings of today’s public schools to the attention of society with the expectation for improving the education of all students. This well-balanced book not only highlights the areas where our schools fall short, it also provides suggestions for remediation. This is an honest and timely book that I will share with my colleagues, university students, and friends.
Tammy L. Stephens, Ph.D., assessment consultant, Pearson; author, teacher, and educational diagnostician Dr. Parrish’s experience in public education is deep and wide. Her new volume, Getting It Right: Dynamic School Renewal, Fixing What's Broken, is a reflection of her many years of experience in all levels of public school education. Dr. Parrish’s revealing self-examination allows the reader to identify their own biases and provides a model for redirection and improvement. Her writing style, with a minimum of educational jargon, draws the reader into a personal self-examination and a call to action. She asks teachers, staff, and everyone involved in the American education system to stand before a large mirror and examine their motives and attitudes. Those for whom the brilliance of world-class education is flickering are quite simply asked to step aside so the parade of knowledge-age excellence in schools can pass them by. It is now the morning of a new day when “the doldrums of ineffective educational strategies can now be locked and sealed in vaults, never to occur again in this nation’s schools”.
Kenneth E. Nicholson, postsecondary education faculty member, Community College of Vermont and Vermont Technical College Whether you are in the inside looking out or the outside looking in, Getting It Right: Dynamic School Renewal, Fixing What's Broken by Dr. Patricia A. Parrish contains the keys to turning around the current state of the public education system in the United States. In my 30+ years as an educator, I’ve never read a book that challenged and inspired me like Getting It Right. I'm recommending this book to every teacher, administrator, and parent I know to pass on the challenge to speak up for the children as Dr. Parrish has. Her compassion for students and teachers shines through in every word.
Connie Sue Greiner, Ed.D., assistant professor, College of Education, Upper Iowa University