Education for Upward Mobility

Michael J. Petrilli is an award-winning writer and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, one of the country's leading education-policy think tanks. He is the author of The Diverse Schools Dilemma: A Parent's Guide to Socioeconomically Mixed Public Schools, and co-editor of Knowledge at the Core: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge, and the Future of the Common Core.

• IntroductionPart I: Transcending Poverty through Education, Work, and Personal ResponsibilityChapter 1: “Education and the ‘Success Sequence,’” Ron HaskinsChapter 2: “Big Payoff, Low Probability: Postsecondary Education and Economic Mobility inAmerica,” Andrew KellyChapter 3: “The Certification Revolution,” Tamar JacobyChapter 4: “How Apprenticeship Can Spur Upward Mobility in the United States,” Robert LermanPart II: Multiple Pathways in High School: Tracking Revisited?Chapter 5: “Small High Schools of Choice,” Peter MeyerChapter 6: “College Prep High Schools for the Poor,” Joanne JacobsChapter 7: “High Quality Career and Technical Education,” Robert Schwartz and Nancy HoffmanPart III: The Early YearsChapter 8: “Starting at Five is Too Late: Early Childhood Education and Upward Mobility,” Elliot Regenstein, Bryce Marable, and Jelene BrittenChapter 9: “Poverty-Fighting Elementary Schools: Knowledge Acquisition is Job One,” Robert PondiscioChapter 10: “Tracking in Middle School,” Tom LovelessConclusion

In Education for Upward Mobility, Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, assembles a team of contributors to tackle how we can help children born into poverty transcend their disadvantages. . . .Fortunately, the contributors review real and workable strategies to overcome these barriers. You may not agree with all the proposed solutions or models examined in this book, but you will be inspired by the great work being done to address the challenge.