Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Contact: Ms. Amy Wesley
Email: awesley@sabis.net
For Immediate Release
Backed by a 129-year-old network and 20+ years of personal experience heading up the global SABIS® Network, Carl Bistany brings his experience to bear as a co-author of Last Bell: Breaking the Gridlock in Education Reform, a book about the need to engage the for-profit, private sector in the fight to raise public education standards. Bistany and co-author Stephanie Gruner Buckley present the dismal state of public education in the U.S., examine past reform efforts, and conclude that a forprofit, private approach is needed to help raise standards and stop over three decades of stagnation. They then go on to debunk popular myths about for-profit education, help initiate a cognitive shift about profit and education, and show how uniquely positioned a for-profit approach is to raise public education standards.
“Schools in the SABIS® Network have been for-profit almost from the start,” says Bistany, referencing the opening of the first network school in 1886. “This was a conscious choice on our part because we have long understood that the for-profit approach is best positioned to not only raise and sustain standards, but also scale successfully. The very nature of a for-profit positions it well to achieve success.”
Using U.S. charter schools as a vehicle to explore the topic of for-profit engagement in depth, the book chronicles the battle over charter schools and shows how public school officials, decision makers, and union officials fight for-profit engagement at every turn. Offering a voice of reason in the increasingly fraught debate over American public education reform, the book explains the real motives behind individuals combating private sector involvement in public schools and depicts a future in which the best for-profit companies exist alongside excellent traditional public schools to dramatically boost performance, turn schools into centers of excellence, and give parents (even in the poorest neighborhoods) a real choice and their children a genuine hope for the future.
The book, which includes a chapter of policy recommendations, gives readers the facts about the state of public education in the U.S. and the role that for-profits play in public education and charts a way forward that puts the interests of America’s children first.
“Education is critical to any nation’s social and economic wellbeing,” says Bistany, “and the time to reform it is now. A last bell is sounding for public education in America, and we must answer it.”
The book is currently available for pre-order on , Amazon.co.uk, and .
To view the press release for Last Bell that has been distributed across the U.S., . For more information about Last Bell, visit . To keep up with the latest Last Bell news, follow us on Twitter () and or like us on .
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