New Book on American K-12 Schools

Hello, All–                                                                                                                                                    New to this site but not to the fight!  I’m Stephen Wallis, retired school principal and author of a new book on K-12 schools titled, Dead Last: The Triumph of Character, Passion, and Teamwork in Education ( stephenwallisauthor.com ), just released.

I believe the book can radically change for the better how we teach and learn in America’s schools, and I think many parents, sound-minded lawmakers, and like-minded folk will find my take on schools refreshing and heartwarming, given the garbage that passes for education today.   If you agree, share the book’s title and contents across the country.

Dead Last is the real deal, clarifying what constitutes meaningful teaching and learning, as well as how parents and communities can rally for better schools. 

As an armed forces veteran, former firefighter, English teacher, school principal, husband, father, and grandfather, I’m urging America to give it a read, and based on the book’s contents, start a MOVEMENT to restore American education to one worthy of world-class teaching and learning standards.

I’m including in this email a book description and brief bio in order that you have an at-a-glance understanding of the book and my background.

Warm regards!

Stephen Wallis

https://www.facebook.com/stephenwallisauthor

https://www.instagram.com/stephen.wallis.311/

 

Book Description:

Dead Last cites how schools can ramp up classroom instruction, student academic achievement, and active support of parents and communities, turning around failing school environments in the effort to begin operating at peak performance. 

The book’s story is told through the prism of my having taken the helm of an in-crisis failing school in the Baltimore–Washington corridor, one with all the pathologies associated with such schools: disruptive, frequently violent student behavior, with the attendant widespread bullying and thievery;  failing district and state student academic test scores; low teaching staff morale; racial concerns; and abject parent and community leader exasperation with “school and school district administration indifference and incompetence; poor teaching; and unending disruptive, threatening student behavior.”

Fast forward four years, and the same school is touted nationally for its teaching excellence, successful student academic achievement, and shared partnership with parents and the wider community.  I share the details with the reader, and I maintain that the philosophy, expectations, and policies implemented can well be replicated across America, no matter one’s zip code.

It’s a refreshing read because it’s written from the perspective of an in-the-trenches successful and nationally recognized school principal, who clarifies how character, grit, traditional values, respect, and a no-nonsense attitude trump the typical education orthodoxy of appeasement, identity politics, and excuses. The reader is also provided a forty-year career and researched perspective—as well as suggested resolutions— to hot-button issues that have dogged American education for decades: school safety and security, school choice, leadership, wokeness and critical race theory, parents and schools, vocational education, and the national achievement gap.

Dead Last is a book about hard-working staff, ordinary people having accomplished something special, something extraordinary, and in the process, found in themselves—students, staff, and parents— a kind of rebirth, a new beginning in how they began to look at themselves to become more purposeful, more meaningful in the lives of others.

I genuinely believe many folks will find the book a transformative read, providing a useful and informed perspective on an important area of national social policy.

 Bio:

Stephen Wallis is the author of Dead Last: The Triumph of Character, Passion, and Teamwork in Education.  A retired high school English teacher and school administrator, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Federation of School Administrators Distinguished Leadership Award, which cited him among “the top eight school principals in the nation.” His publications include chapters in books by The Heritage Foundation and The Calvert Institute of Public Policy. He was co-founder and president of the proposed Business Preparatory Institute, a charter high school for urban youths.