"Our role is to look at every student as an individual and to help him or her grow. That means not only educating them in the three Rs, but teaching them how to think for themselves, make decisions, solve problems, and be ready for the world." This was new principal Dennis Littky's message to his staff at Thayer High School--the vision that would guide the rural school's journey from run-down district joke to national showplace. The unorthodox methods he championed, including integrated subject matter, team teaching, apprenticeship, advisories, and individualized curriculum, shook up the failing school and helped to transform a disaffected and dropout-prone student body into a proud and vibrant community of learners. In this book, the basis for the NBC-TV movie A Town Torn Apart, Susan Kammeraad-Campbell shares the true story of Thayer's renaissance, the man who led it, and the extraordinary effect it had on tiny Winchester, New Hampshire. For educators eager to transform teaching and learning in their own schools, this behind-the-scenes perspective provides insights into the great challenge--and even greater reward--of educational reform done right. Susan Kammeraad-Campbell is an award-winning journalist who has worked for newspapers in the Midwest and New England, where she originally covered Littky's story for the Keene Sentinel. Currently director of marketing publications for the Medical University of South Carolina, she is cofounder and publisher of Joggling Board Press.
