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Press Release

Marv Hoffman, associate director of the University of Chicago Urban Teacher Eduction Program and founding director of the University of Chicago Charter School North Kenwood/Oakland Campus, has edited and contributed a chapter to a new book entitled Starting Up: Critical Lessons from 10 New Schools.

Starting Up is a collection of first-person accounts by some of the best-known founders of new schools in America. Providing the kind of knowledge that only experience can teach, it is an invaluable resource for anyone in the process of or thinking about opening a new school, as well as those interested in the politics of today’s era of new school development. The authors share how they worked to make their educational aspirations a reality while wrestling with social and economic obstacles, such as the distressed state of the communities in which these schools operated and the constant competition for resources. Starting Up tells real stories that capture the rich sense of possibility that currently exists for urban education.

Book Features:

  • Behind the scenes accounts from the founders of innovative K–12 schools created to better serve primarily poor communities across the country.
  • Lessons learned from school leaders, including both the rewards and challenges associated with starting a new school.
  • A foreword by Pedro Noguera that situates start ups within current economic and political realities.

Marvin Hoffman is the founding director of the University of Chicago Charter School North Kenwood/Oakland Campus and the associate director of the University of Chicago Urban Teacher Education Program. Lisa Arrastía is the middle school principal at United Nations International School in New York. Her work in the classroom is the focus of the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Making the Grade.

Contributors: Debbie Almontaser (Khalil Gibran International Academy), Ann Cook and Phyllis Tashlik (Urban Academy High School and the New York Performance Standards Consortium), David Domenici and James Forman Jr.  (Maya Angelou Public Charter School), David “TC” Ellis and Samuel Seidel (High School for Recording Arts), David Greenberg (El Colegio Charter School), Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor (Big Picture Learning and The Met), Rito Martinez (Social Justice High School), and Deborah Meier (Central Park East School).

For more information or to speak with Marv Hoffman, please contact Katelyn Silva at 773-834-8684.

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