School reformers need to read more than just op-eds and magazine pieces on education policy. After all, as it has been discussed over the past two weeks alone, the nation’s education crisis feeds into the social, economic, and political issues facing our nation and world; this means we must break out of specialization and become interdisciplinary in our thinking. There’s also the fact that as parents and caregivers, we must continually practice what we preach to children every day: Read books and be lifelong learners.

This is why Dropout Nation offers its help with the 2014 edition of The Top Eight Books That School Reformers Should Read. Culled from more than 100 books, the selections include a look at how the legendary James Meredith’s march through Mississippi helped splinter the Civil Rights Movement of the last century; political scientist Francis Fukuyama’s treatise on modern government; and an analysis of how the Salvation Army and other religious groups transform civic society. There are also chronicles on reform from school choice pioneer Howard Fuller and former New York City Chancellor Joel Klein.

As with every edition of the Top Eight, the selections met five important criteria: Does it have a strong narrative or polemical power (also known as “is it well-written”)? Are the lessons relevant to the reform of American public education? Is the book thought-provoking (or does it offer new arguments or new thinking on familiar issues)? When research is involved in the narrative, does it stand up to scrutiny? And would you pay at least $14 to put it on your tablet (or, for those of you still reading traditional books, pay at least $20 for the paperback or hardcover)?

Below are this year’s selections. Offer your own suggestions in the comments. And just read, read, read.

Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear: There are plenty of reasons why reformers should pick Aram Goudsouzian’s book on the 1966 March Against Fear, the last great protest of the 20th century Civil Rights Era. For one, it offers fascinating profiles in activist leadership. This includes Martin Luther King’s calm resolve in spite of sniping from Thurgood Marshall and other rivals; Stokely Carmichael’s penchant for fiery rhetoric and shoddy strategizing, the clever machine politicking of Charles Evers; the organizing genius of Ella Baker; and the near-messianic spirit of James Meredith, who originally organized the march before being shot on the first day of it. More importantly, in detailing how the Civil Rights Movement fell apart just a year after achieving such policy successes (including Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), Down the Crossroads offers important lessons on how movements can fall apart in the face of diverging priorities, clashes of egos, struggles in collaboration, and sparse financial and manpower resources. At a time in which the school reform movement is in transition, reformers of all stripes should read this book in order to learn how to keep history from repeating.

Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy: Francis Fukuyama is probably the greatest political scientist of his generation in part because he combines crisp writing with strong, prescient analysis on how politics can shape society. All of his talents are on full display in his latest polemic what makes for good government (and why it rarely becomes reality in much of the world). As Fukuyama details the evolution of American government and those in Africa and Asia, he shows how accountable is key to ensuring that citizens are protected from fiscal and social harm, he offers lessons to those reformers who doubt the importance of the No Child Left Behind Act and its strong accountability provisions. At the same time, by noting how the United States’ own system of checks and balances often leads to a “vetocracy” in which political interests can impede good ideas along with the bad (as well as how “intellectual rigidity” can lead to crises such as the global financial meltdown) Fukuyama also reminds reformers that we must also balance strong accountability with enough room for the kind of innovation and policies needed to ensure the common good in American public education. Your editor doesn’t agree with all of Fukuyama’s conclusions, especially on whether American-style democracy is workable in all nations. But Political Order and Political Decay deserves to be on your bookshelf.

No Struggle No Progress: A Warrior s Life from Black Power to Education Reform: From teaming up with the late Polly Williams and former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist to launch the nation’s first school choice initiative, to his willingness to speak truth to traditionalists and reformers alike, the aforementioned Fuller deserves his place as one of the nation’s foremost school reformers. In discussing his evolution from civil rights activism in the 1960s to his role guiding the leadership of Black Alliance for Educational Options, Fuller shows how reformers can advance systemic reform for our children through strong grassroots activism, cannily navigating the corridors of policymaking, and agitating within institutions. At the same time, Fuller’s story shows reformers that they must recognize the interconnections between what happens inside our schools and what happens outside of them. Any reformer who hasn’t read this book yet should do so. Now.

Claiming Society for God: Religious Movements and Social Welfare: There are plenty of reasons why reformers should pick up Nancy J. Davis’ and Robert V. Robinson’s sociological study of how religious groups such as the Salvation Army and the Muslim Brotherhood succeed in becoming influential players in the societies in which they reside. The most important: Because it offers reformers a blueprint for how to sustain systemic reform. Davis and Robinson show how these groups gain credibility and support for their visions of what society and government should be by addressing the needs of the communities — especially those of poor and minority backgrounds — in which they work. This includes becoming the substitutes for the welfare state role played by governments in their respective countries, and engaging in the kind of grassroots activism that wins them critical support on the ground. For a school reform movement that needs to have a stronger grassroots presence in order to advance its efforts, Claiming Society for God is book that will help it get there.

Lessons of Hope: How to Fix Our Schools: Along with former Boston Superintendent Tom Payzant, the aforementioned Klein is the most-successful reform-minded traditional district leader of this generation. Thanks to his book, reformers can now learn what it took for him and his onetime boss, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to improve student achievement for Big Apple children, as well as understand the obstacles to implementing systemic reform that remain. From vivid accounts of his battles with the American Federation of Teachers’ Big Apple local over simply conversing with teachers on the district’s staff, to conceding how his inattention to curricula may have limited the successes the Big Apple could have had in improving student achievement, to his battles to increase the array of school choices for kids and their families, Klein offers important examples of how institutional-oriented players can achieve the kind of changes that help more children attain the high-quality education they deserve.

The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Making and Breaking of Nations: Amid all the efforts over the past few years to weaken No Child’s Adequate Yearly Progress accountability provisions, reformers should take time to read Jacob Soll’s exhaustive historical survey of what happens when nations weaken checks and balances in financial affairs. As he details how double-entry bookkeeping and other accounting innovations led to the rise of nation-states, as well as how retreats on checks and balances (as well as transparency) have led to crises such as the global financial meltdown of the last decade, Soll offers reformers new reasons why they must resist efforts to weaken accountability by traditional districts and even institutional players within their own ranks (including charter school operators and private schools that benefit financially from the expansion of choice). Soll also shows how inattention to the details of accountability (which can easily be seen in the education policy arena through the Obama Administration’s No Child waiver gambit) can lead to disaster. Advocates for reforming traditional teacher compensation (including busted defined-benefit pensions) can also learn plenty from Soll’s book.

A Light Shines in Harlem: New York’s First Charter School and the Movement It Led: Mary C. Bounds story about the Sisulu-Walker charter school offers an eye-opening chronicle of how difficult it can be to take one aspect of systemic reform: Launching and sustaining schools that can provide our children with cultures of genius. There is plenty to learn from the steps (and missteps) financier-turned-educator Steve Klinsky and his teammates (including civil rights activist Wyatt Tee Walker) made when they took the arduous step of launching the Big Apple’s first charter school. This includes the importance of being passionate about building schools fit for the futures of children, as well as the willingness to change direction (in the form of moving away from Sisulu-Walker’s initial use of the low-quality Direct Instruction approach to teaching) when it is clear it won’t work. Particularly for Parent Power activists looking to launch their own schools and take over failing operations, this is a book they should read.

Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach it to Everyone): Folks such as Brookings Institution’s Tom Loveless have criticized Elizabeth Green’s book as an exercise in edu-tourism. DN Editor RiShawn Biddle offers a far more-substantial critique: That Green’s general disdain for the teacher training efforts of Doug Lemov (whose follow-up to Teach Like a Champion was a Top Eight selection in 2012), especially in dismissing its focus on matters such as classroom management, ignore the reality that it has proven empirically to be superior in effectiveness in improving student achievement than the approach developed by University of Michigan’s Deborah Ball (which Green champions). [Update: Green disagrees with DN’s comments, noting that she doesn’t disdain his approach and arguing that the review didn’t mention aspects of Lemov’s training that he is looking to improve. The editors stand by the assessment.] Yet Green’s book deserves to be on your bookshelf because it is an important chronicle of the struggles reformers and others have had in overhauling how America recruits and trains its teachers. Just as importantly, Green’s book is also a clarion call for bringing greater attention to developing alternative teacher training programs as well as reforming the nation’s low-quality ed schools.

As always, there are a number of books that are deserve praise, but didn’t make the cut. This Next Eight includes On the Rocketship, Richard Whitmire’s profile of the blended-learning charter school operator; The Bill of the Century, New York Times editorialist Clay Risen’s narrative on the politicking that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Slavery by Another Name, Douglas A. Blackmon’s account of how Jim Crow segregationists and companies teamed up to use criminal codes to put blacks into virtual slavery; Jonathan Darman’s LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America, which details how the 1964 election season sowed the seeds of destruction and success for two legendary politicians; British politico Boris Johnson’s The Churchill Factor, which profiles the legendary statesman’s leadership long-ranging impact on world affairs; Unreasonable Men, Michael Wolraich’s chronicle of how tensions between Theodore Roosevelt and Robert La Follette led to the rise — and fall — of early 20th-century progressive politics; Teachers Versus the Public by Paul Peterson, Michael Henderson, and Martin West, which focuses on the divergent views of teachers and the people who pay their salaries; and Putting Education to Work, Mega Sweas’ profile of the Cristo Rey collection of Catholic schools.  

While Dropout Nation doesn’t place books written by contributors on this list, it would be remiss to not mention  The Black Poverty Cycle and How to End It, Contributing Editor Michael Holzman’s treatise on how the black children are harmed by the intersection of the nation’s education crisis and the drug war.

Reading is fundamental — and not just for our children. School reformers, in particular, must always read more than just the wide array of op-eds and policy texts churned out of think tanks in order to continue fostering the intellectual dynamism that has helped the movement battle strongly for building brighter futures for all children. This means reading lots of books, especially ones on history, economics, and other subjects outside of education, in order to develop even more-cohesive arguments for the myriad solutions needed to transform American public education.

This is why Dropout Nation offers its help with the 2013 edition of The Top Eight Books That School Reformers Should Read. Culled from more than 100 books, the selections include a wide range of texts. This includes two history books — including a biography of how urban politics and social reform shaped the career of Theodore Roosevelt, and a look at political maneuvering by Jim Crow segregationist senators to preserve failed and bigoted thinking — from which reformers can glean lessons on how to use politics and activism to transform American public education. It also includes a primer on the develop of Western art and culture that can also serve as a rallying call for expanding experiences for all of our children.

As Dropout Nation does every year, the selections were judged on five criteria: Does it have a strong narrative or polemical power (also known as “is it well-written”)? Are the lessons relevant to the reform of American public education? Is the book thought-provoking (or does it offer new arguments or new thinking on familiar issues)? When research is involved in the narrative, does it stand up to scrutiny? And would you pay at least $14 to put it on your tablet (or, for those of you still reading traditional books, pay at least $20 for the paperback or hardcover)?

Below are this year’s selections. Offer your own suggestions in the comments. And just read, read, read.

Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined: There are plenty of reasons why psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman’s books on the misuses of IQ tests — and mistaken views overall about the potential of children — was the subject of last September’s Conversation at Dropout Nation podcast. For one, Kaufman smartly explains how IQ tests such as the Stanford-Binet — which were originally developed to help children identify and address their learning issues — have been warped by IQ determinists such as Charles Murray, who use the tests to argue that cognitive ability is genetically-driven and that only some kids (usually white) are deserving of college-preparatory education. Kaufman also explains in clear terms why concepts such as learning disabled (which are used to condemn far too many kids to the nation’s special ed ghettos) and giftedness fail to keep in mind all the factors that play into how children learn (including the role of deliberate practice). For reformers, Ungifted is one that should be read. And read. And read again. So go do it.

I Got Schooled: One of the new voices emerging for advancing reform this year is filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, who has written one of the more-thoughtful polemics on the steps needed to address the nation’s education crisis.  Written as a travelogue of sorts about his six-year exploration of education policy issues, the director of The Sixth Sense manages to do in a mere 249 pages what most think tankers fail to do after thousands of pages: Quickly explain flaws in traditionalist thinking — including class-size reduction efforts — and outline five key steps (including giving power to principals to make hiring and firing decisions, and embracing the use of data) to transform education. Just as importantly, in discussing how high-quality teachers “want to want” to stem achievement gaps while laggards don’t desire this goal, Shyamalan also hits upon the importance of talent in building cultures of genius that help all kids succeed. Shyamalan’s book isn’t without flaws; his citing of the rather flawed 2009 report on charter schools by Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Options, arguing that it proves that charters are no better than traditional district schools, is rather problematic. But overall, Shyamalan’s arguments are worth considering.

Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School: Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann have offered up one of the most-exhaustive polemics on how the nation’s education crisis is making it harder for the nation and its children to succeed in an increasingly global and knowledge-based economic landscape. Through their analysis of international student achievement data, Hanushek, Peterson, Woessmann detail why arguments from traditionalists that all is well with education don’t stand up to scrutiny. At the same time, Hanushek, Peterson, and Woessmann take the time to chastise political leaders for not meeting their promises to advance reform, look at already-ongoing fiscal battles between retiring Baby Boomers and families of young children, and explain how reformers must explain to the public that the battle over reforming American public education is one “between the needs of school-age children” who will be the ones charged with keeping the nation prosperous long into the future versus “the interests of those adults who agreed to educate them in our public schools”.

Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars: Why should reformers pick up cultural critic and intellectual provocateur Camille Paglia’s  primer on the history and development of Western art and culture? Reason one: Paglia’s book is the kind that textbook writers should aspire to provide children and adults alike. A simple-yet-comprehensive tome, Paglia’s book details the historical forces that shaped — and were shaped by — works of art such as The Book of Kells (which helped inspire the 19th century Celtic revival that led to the Irish War of Independence from Great Britain) and The Death of Marat, Jacques-Louis David’s ode to the French Revolution. The second reason: Paglia’s strong arguments about the failures of traditional districts to provide children with knowledge about the arts and its role in shaping and being shaped by society (a problem Paglia argues is a problem that is a problem for American culture as a whole) is a clarion call to reformers to do more to expand cultural experiences for all children.

Heir to the Empire City: New York and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt: Certainly you should pick up Edward P. Kohn’s book because it is about the very fascinating life of America’s 26th president — the man who showed the power of the bully pulpit in advancing social change. But reformers can learn plenty from Kohn’s narrative about how Roosevelt’s thinking and activism was shaped by his disgust for the shameless graft of the Big Apple’s infamous Tammany Hall regime, disdain for the equally unabashed corruption of upstate New York politicians, and experience on the ground working with poor and minority families of that time forced into tenements unfit for living. And by discussing how Roosevelt and other social reformers of the time took on the woeful conditions of the time for the Big Apple’s poorest families, Kohn’s book — which will be the subject of an upcoming Dropout Nation Podcast on embracing grassroots leadership — also provides reformers lessons on how it will take plenty of strong steps to help the children of today succeed in school and in life.

Strife and Progress: Portfolio Strategies for Managing Urban Schools: It is easy to talk about overhauling (and, more to the liking of DN Editor RiShawn Biddle, abandoning) the obsolete and dysfunctional traditional district model. It is even easier to talk about how it should be done, including moving away from centralized bureaucracies to a portfolio approach under which traditional and public charter schools are managed under a mayoral control structure. But as former Center for Reinventing Public Education boss Paul Hill and his onetime colleagues, Christine Campbell and Bethany Gross, point out in their 140-page primer on portfolio district, making it work — along with dealing with the political challenges of moving away from the traditional district model — is a different matter entirely. In Strife and Progress, Hill, Campbell, and Gross provide some important lessons, both political and operational, from efforts  by New York City and other reform-minded districts that institution-oriented reformers and their counterparts among activists and think tankers should heed. 

The Smartest Kids in the World and How they Got That Way: An observer can easily argue that Amanda Ripley’s 307-page volume on the success of school systems around the world versus the failures of America’s super-clusters has been over-hyped by reformers. Maybe. But Dropout Nation would have to say that the kudos given to Ripley’s book are all well-deserved. Why? Because it is a strong polemic that explains, both the experiences of three young adults and through strong reporting how American public education is doing poorly for its children and for the nation as a whole. The narrative provides strong contrasts between how traditional district schools focus too many resources on expensive buildings and other matters that have little to do with learning with the more judicious use of resources by systemics in other countries. And in explaining how white middle class children are doing almost as poorly academically (especially as measured on PISA and other international exams) against their counterparts around the world as their black and Latino peers at home, Ripley offers everyone a reminder that the high cost of educational abuse to the least of our children also ends up being borne by the wealthiest of them.

Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights: There’s plenty for reformers to learn from political historian Keith M. Finley’s text on how politicians such as Georgia U.S. Senator Richard Russell, Louisiana’s Russell Long, and J. William Fulbright of Arkansas (now better-known for the international education program he helped create through law) used every political tactic — including arcane Senate rules and faux compromises that effectively kept Jim Crow segregation laws in place — to slow down the civil rights movement’s efforts to end state-sanction segregation. One of the lessons — that those defending a status quo will use any step taken by activists they oppose to rally their side — is one that reformers should always keep in mind; after all, traditionalists are essentially using the same tactics leveraged by defenders of Jim Crow this past century. Just as importantly, reformers can be heartened from another lesson: That those defending failed policies and practices ultimately don’t have time on their side, especially when activists and others continually challenge them at all levels.

As always, there are a number of books that are also deserving of praise, but didn’t make the Top Eight cut this year. This Next Six includes Tilting at Windmills, Richard Lee Colvin’s profile of former San Diego Unified Superintendent Alan Bersin’s struggle to overhaul the Southern California district; Apostles of Reason, Molly Worthen’s history on the development — and battles between factions within — the modern American evangelical movement; The One World Schoolhouse, education innovator Sal Khan’s tome on the development of his flipped classroom approach to teaching; I Am Malala, the autobiography on the teenage activist’s battle against Islamicists in Pakistan opposed to providing teaching and curricula to young women; Margaret Thatcher—The Authorised Biography, Volume I by Charles Moore; and Brad Stone’s The Everything Store, which details how Amazon founder Jeff Bezos revolutionized online retail and (to use a supermarket phrase) so much more.

School reformers have plenty of op-eds to read, policy papers to peruse, and endless tweets coming through their Twitter feeds. But every now and then, everyone needs to pick up a few good books and just read. And not only for pleasure. The need for intellectual stimulation and new ideas for reforming American public education — especially from those outside of policymaking circles — makes thoughtful polemics more-important than ever. And besides, we need to be good examples to the children in our lives.

All of these reasons are why Dropout Nation offers its help this year by selecting The Top Eight Books of 2012 That School Reformers Should Read. Culled from more than 100 books, the selections include a wide range of texts. This includes two books not specifically focused on education from which reformers can gain insight, and build up the movement’s intellectual caliber. It also includes two books by icons of the civil rights movement of this past century who struck blows for bending the arc of American (and world) history; reformers must also heed those lessons from one of the building blocks of the modern school reform movement today.

The selections were judged on four criteria: Does it have a strong narrative or polemical power (also known as “is it well-written” or, would Dropout Nation Editor RiShawn Biddle’s wife fall asleep on it)? Are the lessons relevant to the reform of American public education? Is the book thought-provoking (or does it offer new arguments or new thinking on familiar issues)? When research is involved in the narrative, does it stand up to scrutiny? And would you pay at least $14 to put it on your Nook or Kindle Fire (or, for those of you still reading traditional books, pay at least $20 for the paperback or hardcover)?

Below are the selected books. Offer your own suggestions in the comments. And as we say here around this time of the year, read, read, read.

The Achievable Dream: College Bound Lessons on Creating Great Schools Certainly former College Board President Gaston Caperton and Richard Whitmire (whose biography of Michelle Rhee was among the honorable mentions cited in last year’s Top Eight) have put together some important examples of successful systemic reform efforts. But The Achievable Dream doesn’t just talk about the jobs well done. Particularly in looking at the effort of the Harrison district in implementing a performance pay plan, Caperton and Whitmire illustrate the slow and tough work reform-minded school leaders must undertake — including working with veteran teachers who prefer the guaranteed benefits that come with degree- and seniority-based pay scales — to move away their operations away from fiscally- and educationally ruinous traditional teacher compensation. In short, it is a worthy addition to the school reform bookshelf.

A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America  At first glance, James Meredith’s autobiography (the subject of an upcoming Building a Culture of Genius commentary) would not seem like a natural book for reformers to pick up. But the civil rights icon’s story about how he undertook a years-long , single-minded, and (given his presence in the Jim Crow South) death-defying effort to state-sanctioned racial bigotry by becoming the first black man to officially attend the University of Mississippi shows reformers — especially those from the Beltway — how impromptu leaders can emerge from the grassroots to take down status quo thinking, bring down injustice, and transform lives for the better. And Meredith’s passionate call for the reform of American public education — and his thoughtful reminder of how transforming our schools is part of rectifying the damaging effects of racial bigotry on American society — is one that all should embrace.

Thinking, Fast and Slow There are at least three good reasons why DN Contributor Alex Hernandez used Daniel Kahneman’s book on how people think in his critique on the expertise myth that is endemic within American public education. The first lies in the book’s cogent analysis of how biases such as hindsight, as well as beliefs that we have better understanding of past events and other matters , makes us overconfident in analyzing actions and activities around us. The second? Kahneman offers important insights on how reformers and everyone else can understand errors in decisions and choices, especially our own. Finally, Kahneman’s explanation of why expertise is only useful when combined with objective and accurate data — and valuable when it is acquired in stable conditions in which events can be predicted — is humbling, especially to reformers and traditionalists who don’t always think about the consequences of faulty thinking.

Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better For school leaders looking to help good and great teachers build upon their talent (and beat the general rule that teachers are no better after 25 years on the job than they are after four) Doug Lemov’s follow-up to Teach Like a Champion, co-written with his Uncommon Schools colleague, Katie Yezzi, and teacher Erica Woolway cannot make it easier. That’s because it isn’t. As Lemov, Yezzi, and Woolway point out, it can be easier to help teachers practice habits that lead to failure in improving student achievement than to train instructors on ways to achieve success. At the same time, Practice Perfect also offers plenty of insight on what can be done to improve teacher quality inside the school building. And this is always a manifest benefit for our children.

The Urban School System of the Future: Applying the Principles and Lessons of Chartering  One can argue that there is at least one flaw in Andrew Smarick’s otherwise-excellent treatise on how reformers — especially reform-minded mayors — can push for the end of the traditional district model. Those of us who would prefer state education departments to provide oversight for schools (a move embraced by Dropout Nation through the Hollywood Model of Education) will not be a big fan of Smarick’s concept of mayoral-appointed chancellor regulating all the education players in an urban area; this despite the fact that this publication is generally supportive of mayoral control for traditional districts. Yet that flaw doesn’t deflect from Smarick’s strong overall argument for why traditional districts are obsolete for providing education in an age in which scale is far less useful in providing all kids with high-quality education than strong standards in teaching, curricula, and school leadership.

The New Geography of Jobs: Who Wins, Who Loses in the New Innovation Economy Anyone looking to understand the consequences of the nation’s education crisis — and any municipal chief executive looking to make the case for mayoral (or county executive) control — need only to pick up University of California, Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti’s text on the underlying reasons why some American cities are thriving in an increasingly knowledge-based economy. Moretti’s discussion about how “brain hubs” — or municipalities with large numbers of highly-educated white- and blue-collar workers — continue to thrive economically and socially because talented men and women understand the multiplier effect of being around equally well-educated peers, should motivate every city leader to become bold school reformers. At the same time, Moretti’s observations about income inequality is represented by the low levels of mobility among high school dropouts and high school graduates with no higher education training (who, unlike the college-educated, cannot move out of economically laggard communities because they lack high-quality education) is one that should inform reformers in their efforts to transform American public education.

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High School Sometimes, reformers must be reminded about why they are working to reform American public education. And several reminders can be found in Melba Patillo Beal’s diary of her year attending the first high school in the American South desegregated after Brown v. Board of Education (and the alma mater of the wife of this magazine’s editor). Beals’ description of the first day she attended Central High — and how she had to confront adults who would rather see her remain uneducated (and, in fact, dead) than see her attend the city’s top high school at the time — can’t help but arouse moral indignation. And this is indignation that reformers should use today in confronting adults who, like those who gathered in front of Central High then, think just as lowly of poor and minority kids, and want to keep Zip Code Education policies that are just as damaging to futures now as state-sponsored racism was then.

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character: There’s quite a bit with which Dropout Nation finds fault with What It Takes author Paul Tough’s latest tome on the role of character-building in helping students achieve lifelong success. For one, he buys too much into both the Poverty and Personal Responsibility myths held by most traditionalists, papering over the systemic issues — including low-quality teaching, lack of strong, college-preparatory curricula, and the disdain among many teachers and school leaders for poor and minority families — that have led so many kids onto the path to poverty and prison. The fact that Tough essentially dismisses the role of strong, comprehensive college preparatory curricula (especially intensive reading remediation for young men) in building strong character and helping all kids know their names is also disheartening. Those looking for a more-thoughtful book on the importance of helping kids develop executive function they need for success later in life would be better off reading Ellen Gallinsky’s excellent Mind in the Making. At the same time, Tough smartly illustrates the importance of foster nurturing cultures of genius in every school that can help all children — especially those coming from home lives of dysfunction — develop the emotional fortitude needed to succeed in adulthood. And in showing how KIPP and other schools and systems are building these cultures, Tough offers a road map that all players in the school reform movement should consider in their efforts.

As usual, there are five books which were so good, yet because Dropout Nation only lists eight top books, didn’t make the cut. This Next Five include: Getting Smart, Tom Vander Ark’s important exploration of the role of digital learning in transforming education; The Diverse Schools Dilemma, Thomas B. Fordham Institute research czar Mike Petrilli’s text on the challenges facing middle class and white families in big-city schools (even though Petrilli buys into not-so-thoughtful notions about how economic status of families structure their engagement and power in schools); The Last Lion, the biography of Winston Churchill (a subject of a Culture of Genius essay on the importance of being divisive in advancing reform) started by famed historian and journalist William Manchester and completed after his death by Paul Reid; Pension Games, the Chicago Tribune’s collection of reports on the consequences of defined-benefit pension deals between state and local governments and public sector unions such as the National Education Association affiliate there; and Leverage Leadership, a key primer on building cultures of genius written by Lemov’s Uncommon Schools colleague, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.

What to read? These days, this isn’t exactly a question likely on the minds of school reformers. After all, between the dirge of reports, the flurry of op-eds, and the hundreds of tweets churned out daily, there is certainly a lot to read. But everyone needs to take a few days out of the year to just plain read a book. Why? Partly for pleasure. But also because we all need intellectual stimulation, and to glean new ideas and insights on how to overhaul a failed education system; there is so much that can be gotten out of one good book. More importantly, we have to show the importance of literacy own children (including nephews and nieces) and not just talk about it. This year, Dropout Nation is offering its help by selecting The Top Eight Books of 2011 That School Reformers Should Read. Culled from more than 100 books, the selections include a wide range of texts. This includes three books that aren’t specifically focused on education; after all, school reformers need to continually glean lessons from history and from other sectors in order to build up the movement’s intellectual caliber. (It also makes one well-rounded.) The selections were judged on four criteria: Does it have a strong narrative or polemical power (also known as “is it well-written” or, would Mrs. Dropout Nation fall to sleep on it)? Are the lessons relevant to the reform of American public education? Is the book thought-provoking (or does it offer new arguments or new thinking on familiar issues)? And would you pay at least $14 to put it on your Nook Color or Kindle Fire (or, for those of you still reading traditional books, pay at least $20 for the paperback or hardcover)? Below are Dropout Nation‘s selections. Offer your own suggestions in the comments. And, most importantly, read, read, read. Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve — Even If It Means Picking a Fight: As I noted earlier this month in my American Spectator column, Dr. Steve Perry’s book is  a Parent Power guide that can help families– especially those without any school choice or Parent Trigger options — push for school reform within their own communities. The plain-speaking Capital Prep Magnet School principal offers a step-by-step guide on how to negotiate through the school bureaucracies and force school boards to pay attention. He also explains what parents can do on their own to help their kids succeed in school and in life; and gives an inside look at how laggard leadership, low-quality teaching, and teachers’ union bosses have contributed to the nation’s education crisis. And in the process, he also provides a guide to school reformers on how to rally families on behalf of overhauling American public education. For both families and school reformers, Push Has Come to Shove is a book worth having on the shelf or Nook Color. Why America Needs School Choice: Jay P. Greene’s monograph offers the most-succinct and persuasive arguments for supporting and advancing vouchers, charter schools, and other forms of choice. Throughout the book, Greene not only cuts through the arguments against choice, he also shows how the lack of school options is contrary to the state of affairs even in sectors heavily dominated by the public sector such as healthcare. Best of all, it can be read in an afternoon. Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice: The abridged version of Raymond Arsenault’s tale about one of the most seminal moments in the history of the late-20th century Civil Rights Movement may not seem like a natural read for school reformers, especially those in the Beltway. But the book offers amazing lessons on how our new voices for reform — including Parent Power activists — must challenge the thinking and tactics of longstanding players in the Beltway who now find themselves at a strategic crossroads. And for other reformers, Arsenault’s narrative should be a reminder of the importance of zealous, unapologetic advocacy and speaking truth to power. Freedom Riders is one of two books featured in Dropout Nation‘s Building a Culture of Genius commentaries this year. Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools: Based on just the visceral reaction of teachers’ union supporters at an American Enterprise Institute conference earlier this year (and Richard Kahlenberg’s defense of education traditionalists disguised in review form), Terry Moe has written what is probably the second most-controversial book on education this year. And for good reason. Moe provides a cogent analysis of how the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have helped perpetuate a failed vision of American public education that has condemned far too many young men and women to despair. And he also explains how the development of online learning efforts may do more to weaken the influence of NEA and AFT affiliates than the work of reformers in reshaping policy. Eiffel’s Tower: The Thrilling Story Behind Paris’s Beloved Monument and the Extraordinary World’s Fair That Introduced It: Historian Jill Jonnes’ profile of the construction of the world’s most-iconic monuments was the guiding text for another Building Culture of Genius commentary, this on the need for innovators in school reform. And for good reason. The book offers amazing insights on how Gustav Eiffel managed to navigate the treacherous terrain of political intrigue, and still pulled off one of the greatest path-breaking efforts of all time. From Jonnes’ book, school reformers can glean some lessons on the kind of dynamic minds and path-breaking thinking we need for the reform of American public education. Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools: There are plenty of reasons why Steve Brill’s look at the three decade-long battle over reforming American public education has become the most-controversial — and most talked-about — book on education this year. One of the most-important reasons lies with its strong, even-handed (if sometimes, incomplete) reporting on how the school reform movement has emerged as one of the most-powerful forces in American policy and politics. Another lies with Brill’s rather sharp insight into the craven defense of traditional public education practices by folks such as Ravitch and American Federation of Teachers President Weingarten — and the tactical errors of school reformers (including the problems that came up with the selection process for the federal Race to the Top effort). Class Warfare isn’t a perfect book; Brill fails to detail the important work of such reformers as Howard Fuller and John Norquist (who brought the school choice movement to life — and brought urban leaders to the fore in school reform — with their successful launch of the nation’s first school voucher program), and leaves out the important work of Greene, Robert Balfanz, Christopher Swanson and Dropout Nation Contributing Editor Michael Holzman in revealing the depths of the nation’s dropout crisis. But Brill has written an important book that can even inform the thoughts of political scientists who aren’t studying education. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention: At first glance, the late Manning Marable’s autobiography of the famed civil rights and religious leader would not seem to be a text that school reformers should read. But the book’s chapters on how Malcolm X attempted — and failed — to launch a grassroots movement after his departure from the notorious Nation of Islam are textbook lessons on why strong leadership and operational skills are critical for sustaining reform efforts. Marable’s tale about the rise of the Nation also shows school reformers how a strong movement can be built when dedicated advocates do all they can to reach down into the grassroots — and his discussion about the religious cult’s downfall offers insight on problems of personality-driven organizations, an issue for some of the foremost outfits in both school reform and among education traditionalists. And finally, Malcolm X’s amazing life and constant reinvention — including how he became an autodidact of the first order — shows how education can spark anyone to turn their lives around for the better. Kids First: Five Big Ideas for Transforming Children’s Lives and America’s Future: Your editor will admit that he doesn’t agree with every suggestion or view offered up by University of California, Berkeley Professor David Kirp in this book. Let’s just mention one: It isn’t too late to help children get on the path to success in school and life once they enter school. But Kirp’s book is certainly one of the most-compelling reads any reformer can pick up this year and in the coming days. He strongly and thoughtfully argues for government budgeting and public policy agenda based on the simple idea that all kids deserve that which you would provide to your son, daughter, nephew or other child in your life that you love. More importantly, unlike similar books in this arena, Kirp actually lays out what this should look like in concrete ways. There were three other books that were so good, yet, because this is only a list of the top eight books (and because of the list’s emphasis on mentioning books that were not specifically focused on education) didn’t make the cut. These Next Three are Stray Dogs, Saints and Saviors, Alexander Russo’s narrative on Green Dot’s overhaul of Locke High School; Richard Whitmire’s profile of Michelle Rhee, The Bee Eater (despite what once-respectable education historian Diane Ravitch wants to think); and Nicholas Wapshott’s Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics, which offers reformers insights on the driving forces behind other intellectual and political battles (and, is also a fine primer on Austrian and Keynsian economic theory). Update: Howard Fuller notes that Thomas Friedman’s and Michael Mandelbaum’s That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back should be among the other books school reformers should read; education is one of the issues the book covers. Another reader also puts on the list Surpassing Shanghai: An Agenda for American Education Built on the World’s Leading Systems, which ably tears apart arguments from education traditionalists about the nation’s woeful academic performance against its peers. Given that one is on my Nook Color at this moment (and being read) and the other is in the order queue, your editor, in particular, couldn’t judge either book one way or the other. But I will give my thoughts at the beginning of the new year.