Reviews
Anita Caduff, University of California San Diego - March 4, 2022
Transforming Sanchez School provides a detailed account of how school leaders addressed linguistically diverse students’ various needs while cultivating their talents by providing a rich and broad curriculum. Inspiring and relevant, this book exemplifies the possibilities feasible despite challenges due to, among other things, legislations infused by corporate reform narratives, inequitable funding, and demoralizing accountability systems. To address these challenges and engage in school improvement processes, shared leadership structures, dynamic learning communities with collaborative decision-making processes, evidence-based teaching practices focusing on the whole child, and the support of strong parent and community engagement were vital to the success of the school....
Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education, UCLA - March 2, 2022
In this detailed analysis of the Sanchez School, Isola and Cummins describe the processes and strategies employed by educators to transform this school into one capable of addressing the varied and complex needs of its students. Educators will appreciate the detailed nature of the analysis presented. Instead of simply offering platitudes and “research-based” practices, the authors take a practical approach in describing the obstacles the school encountered on its journey toward progress and how these were addressed. Thoughtful, insightful, and accessible, this book will be a useful resource and a helpful guide to educators who genuinely seek to make a difference
Richard Carranza, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education - March 2, 2022
Transforming Sanchez School vividly documents the power of educators to promote academic achievement by closing opportunity gaps faced by low-income linguistically and culturally diverse students. Rooted in a philosophy of shared leadership, over a 13-year period the school developed and implemented evidence-based systems, structures, and policies that generated teacher agency, affirmed students’ identities, and expanded parent and community engagement. Unlike many schools across the nation pressured to raise standardized test scores, Sanchez School refused to narrow the curriculum, instead focusing on enrichment through the arts, literacy engagement, and expansion of students’ bilingual skills. Educators and policymakers alike will find insight and inspiration in the remarkable story of Sanchez School.
James Dierke, Executive Board Member of The American Federation of School Administrators - March 2, 2022
Raymond and Jim have outlined many successful, and some time-honored approaches, to including urban intercity bilingual learners in the modern learning process. Their book covers a vast amount of acquired knowledge that brought about effective and positive changes to the educational institution. This new look at education for all was the starting point for teachers, administrators, parents, and community partners in bringing about a total and cooperative student learning process at Sanchez Elementary School. This total team effort resulted in a wonderful transformation of the learning process at Sanchez Elementary School and is a model for other schools to follow. This was a bottom-up, not top-down, approach to educational change.
Lorenzo Ortona, Consul General of Italy in San Francisco - March 2, 2022
In his 13 years as principal at San Francisco’s Sanchez Elementary School, Raymond R. Isola opened up an important dialogue between educators and parents who believed in preparing their students to cultivate their talents and nurture their imaginations. Throughout Isola’s tenure, co-author and educational researcher Jim Cummins observed Isola’s community of educational equity and how Isola became a trailblazer in introducing Italy’s inspiring Reggio Emilia approach to a California public school. A powerful, educational story of how schools can transform from blank canvases to works of art, as told by an Italian American who sought to close gaps experienced by low-income, socially marginalized students.