Yesterday, I finished Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565125169/tilsoncapitalpar), and it is a fantastic book -- one of the all-time great entrepreneurial stories of any kind, for profit or nonprofit. It tells the remarkable story of KIPP's creation Mike Feinberg and David Levin, but also of other heroes at KIPP (like Frank Corcoran, Charlie Randall and Susan Winston) and beyond KIPP (like Harriett Ball and Rafe Esquith). All of them gave everything they had -- and then some -- to help disadvantaged kids get a high-quality education.
If you're on this email list, I assume it's because you are interested in and care about improving our public schools, especially those that are badly serving low-income, minority kids. If so, this book is a MUST-READ! I'm so confident that you will enjoy it that: A) I'll buy it for you -- just email your address; or B) If, after reading it, you think I gave you a bad recommendation, I will send you a check for the amount you paid for the book.