Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve--Even If It Means Picking a Fight - Softcover

"Dr. Steve Perry's refreshing honesty and fierce work ethic have made him successful in turning very bad schools into very good schools. This book he's written about how to help others (including parents, teachers and administrators) do the same is pure gold."
--Bill Cosby

"A stellar book...very powerful... Steve Perry, an extraordinary educator, is sick and tired of being sick and tired. America's public schools are broken, and the kids who are bearing the brunt are mostly poor, black or Latino. Perry pulls no punches in showing that, while the kids fail, no one is accountable because the system protects the adults. This book will upset some people, but that's okay. Change doesn't come quietly, and our kids desperately need change."
--Joel Klein, former New York City School Chancellor

When we ask our kids, “What’d you do in school today?” and they mumble, “Nothin',” they’re telling the truth.

Steve Perry gets it. He understands why some parents are panicked about what’s going on in their kids’ classrooms, and how other parents, whose kids supposedly attend the “good” schools, still fear that their children are falling behind. As principal of one of the best performing schools in America – one that sends 100% of its mostly minority students to four-year colleges – Perry delights in proving “the system” wrong.

In this solution-oriented manifesto, Perry covers the full range of issues holding back today’s students. He shows parents and principals how to find great teachers (and get rid of the bad ones), how to make readers out of kids who hate to read, how to make the school curriculum thrilling rather than sleep-inducing, how to conduct an all-important education “home audit,” how to “e-organize” if school boards and administrators aren’t getting the message, how to build a “school of the future,” and much more.

The era of third-rate education is over. Push has come to shove!