Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America

Jay Mathews

Jan 2009 · Sold by Algonquin Books

About this ebook

When Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin signed up for Teach for America right after college and found themselves utter failures in the classroom, they vowed to remake themselves into superior educators. They did that—and more. In their early twenties, by sheer force of talent and determination never to take no for an answer, they created a wildly successful fifth-grade experience that would grow into the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), which today includes sixty-six schools in nineteen states and the District of Columbia.

KIPP schools incorporate what Feinberg and Levin learned from America's best, most charismatic teachers: lessons need to be lively; school days need to be longer (the KIPP day is nine and a half hours); the completion of homework has to be sacrosanct (KIPP teachers are available by telephone day and night). Chants, songs, and slogans such as "Work hard, be nice" energize the program. Illuminating the ups and downs of the KIPP founders and their students, Mathews gives us something quite rare: a hopeful book about education.

Ratings and reviews

A very tough read. More like a dime novel than a serious plan of action for the salvation of the education system. As a teacher starting the thirty-fifth year in the classroom, I did not find this work to be inspiring. There are many other fine works that predate this book by decades. Borrow this book to check it out before you buy it. You may not want to add it to your library. I passed mine on without a second thought.

It's a good read but the author started jumping around in the middle of the book. It almost seemed he added a few chapters to the middle after it was finished. There wasn't always a good flow from one chapter to the next.

I go to a KIPP school and it is fun but also hard

About the author

JAY MATHEWS covers education for the Washington Post and has created Newsweek's annual Best High Schools rankings. He has won the Benjamin Fine Award for Outstanding Education Reporting for both features and column writing and is the author of six previous books, including Escalante: The Best Teacher in America, about the teacher who was immortalized in the movie Stand and Deliver.