Despite visions of an American Dream where grit and determination equal success, today a child's zip code is a better predictor of success than any amount of hard work or talent. That's what inspired Stanley Litow to create P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School), a public education reform model focused on college attainment and career readiness. P-Tech schools span grades 9–14 and enable students to earn both a high school diploma and a no-cost, two-year postsecondary degree in a STEM field. Started ten years ago in one school in a low-income Brooklyn neighborhood, P-Tech now operates in 240 schools across 12 states and 28 countries.
Stanley Litow charts P-Tech's story in his new book, Breaking Barriers, and discusses difficult issues in education such as opportunity and achievement gaps, low college completion rates, college debt, income equality, and the need for skilled, diverse STEM employees. He speaks with former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and P-TECH founding principal Rashid Ferrod Davis.
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