Following in the footsteps of Lorene Cary's memoir Black Ice, Kendra James' Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School recounts her three years as the first Black American legacy student to graduate from Taft in the early 2000s. In both hilarious and sobering vignettes, James explores themes of belonging and segregation from the perspective of a teenage millennial raised on respectability politics navigating issues at the intersection of race, class, and privilege. She describes the daily microaggressions and the outright racism she experienced as a student at this elite institution, all in exchange for the American Dream of connections and upward mobility. Looking back on her high school experience after several years of working as an admissions counselor at similar independent schools, James reflects that "like many Black people, the life I dreamed of was paid for with the American currency of a minor trauma." Until independent schools truly listen to all BIPOC voices and engage in sustained antiracism work, James concludes, these spaces will continue to perpetuate harm toward BIPOC students. As independent schools continue to grapple with their legacy of white supremacy, and as educators work to create truly inclusive communities where all students feel a sense of belonging, James' memoir is a must-read.

Inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the chapter authors in this book reflect on what it takes for schools to accept a leadership role in the call to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. This writing project is framed as a journey already begun but facing a sociopolitical urgency now that requires educators to commit to a paradigm shift in how we prioritize equity, how we assess our schools' strengths and weaknesses in the pursuit of it, and what leaders need to know to engage whole communities in the work of justice-seeking. Readers will find practical, evidence-based assessment tools designed to surface where, within schools, there is work to be done. There are also authentic stories of schools that may be ahead of others on the road. Particularly useful are the chapters that describe the specifics of intentionally creating "brave spaces" in which to have the conversations, to listen, to do the work, and to change. Bending the Arc Toward Justice offers diverse perspectives from contexts that differ widely but share one thing: the belief that it is in schools that we can find a way when there seems to be no way and to overcome.

In his broad coverage of financing information for a four-year residential college, Ron Lieber details the intricacies of a topic that independent school educators will find instructive, whether as parents or advisors to future college applicants. The narrative draws the reader into the world of college admissions through anecdotes, quotes, and carefully chosen statistics. Lieber (himself a parent to a college-bound high school student) illustrates the numerous factors that influence the planning for, choice of, and financing of the college experience. His exposition of the merit aid process, the role of student grades in determining the tuition costs at some state colleges, various college financing mechanisms, and many other concepts is eye-opening and highly informative. Educators, school leaders, and students alike would benefit from reading this book, given the usefulness of the subject matter covered and the lucid explanations contained within it. The final chapter focuses on hope and serves to reassure those who have to finance the cost of college that they can manage the emotional toll of the whole process. Lieber's book makes a great introduction to the novice and a relevant reference to others further along in the college financing process.

In Making Grades Matter: Standards-Based Grading in a Secondary PLC, Townsley and Wear lay out a plan for initiating standards-based grading within a school or district through purposeful collaboration between working teams. The authors propose a definition of standards-based grading focused on three principles: 1) grades should reflect a student's current learning; 2) homework should be formative; and 3) resubmissions and retakes can support variable rates of learning. They make the argument for standards-based grading due, in part, to its tendency to develop when teachers work together in a professional learning community that intentionally seeks to improve its practices and uses only evidence-based practices. Townsley and Wear suggest that learning outcomes, or standards, are the basis of communicating students’ progress and that numerical grades stemming from arbitrary policies and accumulating points do not adequately support or reflect student learning. The text is also beneficial because of its case studies of multiple schools in different districts that successfully implemented standards-based grading, along with its sample assessments, guides, templates for parent communication, grading policies, and gradebooks in different subjects. Making Grades Matter: Standards-Based Grading in a Secondary PLC provides a demonstration of the evidence supporting this grading approach and illustrations of its practice in applicable real-world settings.

How can you be an ally for others? This anthology proves that such practice is complicated and of critical importance. Readers will come to understand that the complications are not hindrances to learning, reflecting, and showing up. Instead, they can motivate us to embrace the ongoing work of allyship, even after missed opportunities and mistakes, in order to create meaningful action and change. The stories and teachings feature a wide array of identities, backgrounds, and experiences. Additionally, each essay's point-of-view encourages readers to step into the shoes of various people: the commuter speaking out in response to bias, the classmate failing to step up, the friend disappointed in their peers’ reactions. Schools promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) are advised to make Allies a resource. Since most of its authors primarily write for young adults, the anthology is an inviting and empowering read for middle and high school students. The stories could promote empathy, discussion, and action when shared in the context of book clubs or advisory activities. Faculty and staff, too, will gain insight and inspiration from reading Allies as part of PLC-work addressing DEIJ competencies and initiatives.

In an era of teacher absences and departures on top of culture wars (about remote and hybrid learning, masking, book banning, and critical race theory), George Packer calls us to attention as citizens of a democracy with higher goals for education. Though he focuses on public schools in some ways, his latest Atlantic essay holds insights—provocative and profound—for us all. Indirectly, Packer overviews reasons for the Covid flight from public schools, giving independent school educators a synthesis of these parents’ hopes and expectations for our communities and programs. More than anything, though, Packer makes a case for preparing all American students for democracy and citizenry. If “our core civic institution”—public school, serving 90% of American families—is in crisis, what is our role, as independent schools, also striving to equip young citizens of a democracy? Packer quotes Robert Pondiscio, a former fifth-grade teacher: “Horace Mann went to his grave having never once uttered the phrase college- and career-ready. We’ve become more accustomed to thinking about the private ends of education. We’ve completely lost the habit of thinking about education as citizen-making.” Emphasizing key, transdisciplinary skills that all of our children need (reading, listening, empathizing, debating, reconsidering, and persuading), Packer concludes, “We owe our beleaguered children, the victims of our inadequacy, a chance to be better than we are.” Packer’s piece is a sobering one—and potentially a bipartisan one—around which we can unite and reinvigorate our loftiest goals for schools.

In schools, in homes, and on screens, a disaster is unfolding, its effects doing grave harm to our brains and to humanity's ability to act for its own good. So argues Johann Hari in his new book Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again. Hari draws upon interviews with a range of experts and data from the fields of psychiatry, communications, computer science, child psychology, nutrition, environmental science, and engineering to argue that societal forces have deteriorated our focus to a degree that is causing the world around us to go up in literal flames. While others see technology and "the attention economy" as the culprits, Hari broadens his lens to examine the combined forces of poor nutrition, lack of sleep, air pollution, excess work demands, school-testing, and, yes, a tech industry driven by "surveillance capitalism," the business model that monetizes our attention. In a resounding conclusion, Hari links our current inability to focus to the climate crisis, noting that we can prevent disaster if only we can manage to pay attention to the problem long enough to come up with solutions and act on them. Despite its subtitle, Stolen Focus is more call-to-collective-activism than self-help manual, and Hari offers three goals of what he hopefully terms "the Attention Rebellion.” In advocating for the banning of surveillance capitalism, the instituting of a four-day work week, and the restructuring of childhood around free outdoor play, he sets us on a path to reclaim our humanity.