Achieving College Dreams
How a University-Charter District Partnership Created an Early College High School
Edited by Rhona S. Weinstein and Frank C. Worrell
Reviews and Awards
"This is a volume you'll not only want to devour, but require of all your graduate students, or for that matter, anyone who wants to engage in collaborative change with multiple partners on the ground. It's the real deal! It will chase away the faint of heart and realistically motivate and challenge those with a deep commitment to tackle intractable problems of social change." -- The Community Psychologist
"If we are to solve the manifold problems of public schools, higher education can no longer hold itself aloof and just skim off the top. Achieving College Dreams tells the story of Cal Berkeley's efforts to partner and help, asking the hard questions, assessing what works and doesn't, and learning along the way, in the best spirit of public service. Let's hope more of higher education is inspired by this to roll up its sleeves." --Anthony Marx, President, New York Public Library; former President of Amherst College
"Weinstein and Worrell take us inside the development and evolution of CAL Prep by focusing on expanding the opportunities for the education and socio-emotional development of low-income, under-represented secondary school students. They weave together diverse voices, data sets, theory and research into a volume that is compelling and engaging. The volume is of vital interest to practitioners, academics, policy makers, and laymen alike." --Edward Seidman, Professor of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development, New York University
"Achieving College Dreams is an honest and powerful story of a university committed to creating a high school that embodies equity and excellence. It tells a sometimes heartwarming, sometimes painful story of the trials and triumphs of a school in the making. The book's value comes in part from the authors' willingness to share, along with their success, what did not work and the lessons learned. I recommend it to anyone interested in connecting research and theory to practice, university-community partnerships, designing new schools, or school reform more generally." --Deborah Stipek, Judith Koch Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
"Achieving College Dreams presents a clarion call to colleges and universities to engage their local schools and communities for mutual benefit, along with a roster of strategies for overcoming the daunting obstacles and challenges for creating an excellent and equitable educational environment for poorly served students." --Hugh Mehan, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, The Center for Research on Educational Equity, Access, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE), University of California, San Diego
"The story of the California College Preparatory Academy captures the commitment of a great university, a handful of dedicated professors and educators, and a charter school organization to pave the road to college for underserved youth. I am left to wonder why other universities have failed to follow suit and use their intellectual and material resources to promote college readiness." --Daniel L. Duke, Professor, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
"The book Achieving College Dreams tells a fascinating and complex story of one attempt to address the problems of underachieving youth by building a new school... The book gives hope... that a well thought out approach to the whole student and a long term commitment from institutions, educators, and funders can make a powerful difference in what too many see as an intractable problem in American education." -- Kathleen Sullivan Brown, PsycCRITIQUES
