Work Hard. Be Nice.

October 13, 2008
“Many people in the United States believe that low-income children can no more be expected to do well in school than ballerinas can be counted on to excel in football,” begins Washington Post
education reporter Mathews (Escalante: The Best Teacher in America
). He delves into the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and follows the enterprise's founders, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, from their days as young educators in the Teach for America program to heading one of the country's most controversial education programs running today. Luckily for many low-income children, Feinberg and Levin believed that with proper mentors, student incentives and unrestrained enthusiasm on the part of the teachers, some of the country's poorest children could surpass the expectations of most inner-city public schools. Mathews emphasizes Feinberg and Levin's personal stakes in the KIPP program, as they often found themselves becoming personally involved with the families of their students (in one case Feinberg took the TV away from a student's apartment because the student's mother insisted that she could not stop her child from watching it). Mathews innate ability to be at once observer and commentator makes this an insightful and enlightening book.

February 1, 2009
Mathews's ("Escalante: The Best Teacher in America") book follows the lives of the two educators who founded the successful Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), a system of 65 schools that have revolutionized inner-city education. In 1995, Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg, tired of urban classroom chaos, came up with KIPP to help guarantee student success from grade school to college. They fought against classroom apathy, and reached out to students through homework assistance over the phone and regular home visitations with parents. The result has been an increasing group of self-motivated inner-city kids who have raised expectations for themselves and their future. However, it wasn't easy. Levin and Feinberg were constantly tested by unbending educational bureaucrats, uncooperative parents, and budget constraints. Though the book's writing structure is a bit scattered and repetitive, it does well to convey how KIPP continues to change lives despite criticism from outsiders. Suitable for public libraries.Karen Long, Farmington P.L., NM

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 27, 2009
Mathews's sprawling narrative traces the birth and early development of the controversial Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) through the eyes of its charismatic young founders, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. J. Paul Boehmer captures both the fiery idealism and initial naïveté in the voices of the two protagonists as they parlay their postcollege Teach for America stint in inner-city Houston into a bold national experiment in classroom instruction and school governance. Boehmer provides an especially memorable portrayal of Feinberg and Levin's early mentor Harriett Ball, a veteran educator whose commanding presence conveys both maternal warmth and tough determination. Boehmer only misfires once, when he fails to provide a cue that he is shifting from storytelling into an expository section analyzing the KIPP track record. An Algonquin hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 13).