Every Dispelling the Myth School Has Something to Teach Us

I’ve been lucky enough to visit all of Ed Trust’s Dispelling the Myth Award winners since 2005 (and even a couple from 2004), and together they give me a sense of hope about the enterprise of public education. I always wish I could take everyone I know to visit, because each one has something important to teach about how to educate our most vulnerable children.

I can’t drag everyone with me, but I do try to capture a little bit about them in my writings. (See, for example, How It’s Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools.)

In this week’s Huffington Post column, I talk about the surprises I found at one of this year’s Dispelling the Myth Award winners — Arcadia Elementary School. Located in the great swath of the Chicago suburbs known as Southland, Arcadia demonstrates not only that low-income kids and kids of color can thrive academically, but they can have fun while doing it. Sledding parties, opera, and more are part of the regular curriculum.

To read more, go to “Another Surprising School.”