On Purpose - The Center for Education Reform

Go behind the scenes at twelve of America’s most promising schools and discover their secrets of success in a remarkable new book from renowned author Samuel Casey Carter.

On Purpose: How Great School Cultures Build Strong Character takes readers on an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes tour of schools whose cultures are designed to yield student growth. Carter introduces readers to the teachers and school leaders who will stop at nothing to see the lives of their children changed for the better, and the children whose futures are brighter because they attend schools with cultures designed on purpose.

As a Senior Fellow at The Center for Education Reform, Carter studied more than 3,500 schools nationwide, discovering a link between a school’s culture and the academic growth and character development of its children.

Five traditional public schools, three public magnet schools, two public charter schools and two private schools are profiled in the book, published by The Center for Education Reform and Corwin.

This project was supported by grants from the John Templeton Foundation and the Kern Family Foundation.

News and Reviews

The Weekly Standard

Over the past 18 months Race to the Top—the Obama administration’s $4.35 billion program designed to advance public school innovation and student achievement—has prompted furious competition between state and local school districts, raising expectations that some sort of breakthrough in K-12 education may be at hand. Yet skeptics might be forgiven for harboring doubts about an imminent turnaround, despite the eye-popping stimulus-funded incentives and number-crunching requirements. As Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for “Superman” makes clear, the absence of federal funding and mandates hasn’t been the problem. >>

Washington Post

Samuel Casey Carter is, in a way, the Tom Paine of the movement to raise school achievement in low-income neighborhoods. He coined the term “no excuses schools” for those run by people who think that no matter how bad their students’ family lives, with great teaching they should be able to learn just as much as kids from affluent suburban homes. His new book, “On Purpose: How Great School Cultures Form Strong Character,” puts this in an even wider context. He profiles a dozen schools that, he says, have set high expectations for personal attitudes and behavior and created both good people and good students. >>

Arizona Republic

Veritas Preparatory Academy, a Phoenix charter school near 24th Street and Lincoln Drive, is one of a dozen schools profiled in a new book, On Purpose: How Great School Cultures Form Strong Character, by education leader and author Samuel Casey Carter. In the book, Carter writes that schools that nurture students, have high expectations and focus on character development dramatically increase achievement. Andrew Ellison, founding principal of the sixth through 12th grade college prep school, said unlike the movie Waiting for Superman, Carter’s book focuses on what the 12 profiled schools are doing right. >>