Book cover of How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice

Book description

An inside look at America's most controversial charter schools, and the moral and political questions around public education and school choice.

The promise of public education is excellence for all. But that promise has seldom been kept for low-income children of color in America. In How the Other Half Learns,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked How the Other Half Learns as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Pondiscio spent an entire school year embedded in Success Academy Bronx 1, an elementary charter school in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Success Academy, a leading charter network, is often criticized for its obsessive focus on structure, discipline, and test prep but in this book, Pondiscio brings to life the incredible dedication and humanity of its teachers and principals as they struggle day by day to change the course of young lives.

If you love How the Other Half Learns...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like How the Other Half Learns?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 41 books like How the Other Half Learns.

Browse books like How the Other Half Learns

Book cover of How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
Book cover of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Book cover of The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,340

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like How the Other Half Learns, you might also like...

Book cover of Foxfire in the Snow

Foxfire in the Snow by J.S. Fields,

It's a time of change, between magic and alchemy.

Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. At seventeen, an opportunity to attend an alchemical guild fair and secure an apprenticeship with the…

Book cover of The Main Gate

The Main Gate by Yvonne Kjorlien,

Dr. Elise Marquette has spent years burying the past—until the past refuses to stay buried.

Hired to join Earth’s first interstellar contact team, she hopes the vastness of space will finally offer distance from the ghosts of war and the wounds left by a mother who never let her be…

5 book lists we think you will like!