When two gutsy moms ventured inside Nettelhorst, their neighborhood's underutilized and struggling public elementary school, the new principal asked what it would take for them to enroll their children. Stunned by her candor, they returned the next day armed with an extensive wish list. The principal read their list and said "Well, let's get started, girls! It's going to be a busy year . . . " How to Walk to School is the story—from the highs to the lows—of motivated neighborhood parents galvanizing and then organizing an entire community to take a leap of faith, transforming a challenged urban school into one of Chicago's best, virtually overnight. The fate of public education is not beyond our control. In How to Walk to School, Susan Kurland, Nettelhorst's new and entrepreneurial principal, and Jacqueline Edelberg, the neighborhood mom, provide an accessible and honest blueprint for reclaiming the great public schools our children deserve. Check out www.howtowalktoschool.com for more information.

"This is a fascinating account of the collaboration between a public school principal, Kurland, the parents of young children considering her elementary school, and the community that transformed a failing public school into an outstanding and revitalized one. In the face of disastrous, widespread public school system failures across America, parent dissatisfaction, and teacher despair, the Chicago-based Nettlehorst School's success story is a beacon. Edelberg, one of the Nettlehorst parents, and Kurland offer educators hope that change can happen in any public school, given the right mix of parent-teacher patience, willpower, community involvement, pluck, creativity, collaboration, and ability to overcome adversity. They provide a blueprint that schools can use for revitalization projects, detailing, for instance, how to procure donations from area businesses and to ask questions that will get answers about difficult educational problems such as coping with dysfunctional and unsatisfactory teaching. This book is essential reading for all elementary school parents and teachers, especially those who have lost their faith in the American public school system and are looking for ways to improve it. Here are solutions and inspiration." - Library Journal

"This volume is an admirable achievement that will doubtless be looked to as a model for school districts in need." - Publishers Weekly

"In this highly informative book, Edelberg and Kurland essentially lay out a model for reviving the neighborhood school. They detail the struggles, from tensions with some teachers, to a lack of cooperation with school bureaucracy, to charges by some parents that the school was being gentrified. The reformers knew they had to focus on the essentials: develop partnerships with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, improve academic performance, and improve the school’s image to attract more middle-class families. After all the joy and struggle, the group transformed the school into a high performer that has been acclaimed nationally for its achievement. This is a compelling story of transformation and an incredibly helpful resource—a blueprint—for parents similarly motivated." - Booklist, Starred Review

"To read it is to come away inspired with the idea that regardless of one's community setting, it is vital to get parents and local businesses involved in the life of one's school....This book is a blueprint for showing how to break down those walls that separate to achieve a human and financial renaissance." - Multicultural Review

"It's a success to make Mayor Daley proud . . ." - Chicago Sun-Times

"A Chicago public school has gone from one of the worst to one of the best . . ." - CBS Chicago

"The Nettelhorst School is a vibrant and dynamic school, but just a few years ago, it was far from being a school of choice . . . in four years, test scores have more than doubled . . ." - WTTW

"Over the last year . . . local parents have overseen a remarkable transformation at Nettelhorst . . ." - Chicago Reader

"The 110-year-old school is in the midst of a renaissance . . ." - Chicago Sun-Times

"The [Nettelhorst] Parents' Co-op is an excellent example of what concerned neighbors can do when they put their heads together and serves as a model other needy schools should emulate . . ." - Skyline

"This 110-year-old public school-largely forsaken by residents of its white, middle-class area north of downtown-is experiencing a rebirth . . ." - Education Week

"The salad bar at Chicago's Nettelhorst Elementary School . . . is one way the school is promoting healthier choices for students. It also teaches nutrition, has an after-school cooking program, has reinstituted recess, and has dance and physical education classes-the sorts of programs needed at far more schools, children's health advocates say, given the rise in childhood obesity." - The Christian Science Monitor

"In their subsequent book about the experience, How to Walk to School, Edelberg and Kurland describe how a group of mothers, working with a supportive principal, took a leap of faith that changing the school's environment would, in turn, transform its quality of education." - The Dallas Morning News