“Mending Education is the third book in a trilogy geared towards education and the systems engulfing the processes of education. The book is important for educators but also people from multiple disciplines, e.g., business, leadership, health care. Every profession thrives on the messages found within Mending Education through its stories of hope, creativity, resiliency, and vision. Educators were role models through the pandemic, showing creativity and positive examples of not just surviving but thriving in hard times. The authors have beautifully highlighted the tangible stories that give hope for education even though the profession is filled with crisis from within and outside. Likewise, the book provides a blueprint that other professions can use to scaffold their own vision, creativity, hope, and resiliency.”
—Barbara H. Long, dean, The Rev. Wilfred E. and Dr. Joyce A. Nolen School of Business and Professional Studies, Bridgewater College
“In their new book, Mending Education, Karen Gross and Ed Wang provide us with a readable yet authoritative review of the challenges and opportunities our education system faces in the aftermath of the pandemic and in the context of multiple ongoing stressors. While never dodging the severity of the issues, they offer a treatment plan built on lessons from the experience of social and emotional learning and from what we have gleaned from resilience studies as applied to the scholastic setting for students and teachers alike. This is a timely and necessary book."
—Gregory Fricchione, MD, director, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
“Mending Education is a book for our times—it recognizes the watershed moment created by the COVID-19 pandemic and examines how to embrace it moving forward. Old paradigms simply no longer fit the current landscape educators are facing. This book addresses the ‘now what’ for educators by offering hope, clarity, and innovative strategies.”
—Douglas Behan, director of continuing education and associate professor of professional practice, School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
“Mending Education is a must-read for veteran educators, preservice educators, and teacher educators. Drs. Gross and Wang center the voices of educators and affirm the multiple ways educators benefited their students and families during the pandemic. By doing so, educators who lived that experience find their creativity with online learning, their novelty for engaging students, and their focus on connecting with students and families not only highlighted but recognized as a path forward.”
—Elizabeth McAdams Ducy, associate professor of special education, Sonoma State University
“We have all bemoaned the COVID pandemic and its lasting negative effects, but Karen Gross and Edward Wang turn that pessimism on its head. This book defines the positive outcomes from the pandemic for education writ large and provides ways to create stickiness for lasting change. The coauthors’ extensive experience in education is augmented by the priceless data gathered through their research survey of teachers and educators. Along with their upbeat voices, their own delightful and smart original artworks are used to engage the reader and illustrate their points throughout, making this a must-have for educators everywhere.”
—Chris Messina-Boyer, educational crisis manager/crisis communications consultant, 20Buttonwood PR Solutions LLC
“In this easily digestible and wonderfully enlightening book, the authors tell us that the first step to enduring change is to name it. Karen Gross and Edward Wang have done just that, essentially putting the innovations emerging from one of the worst tragedies of our lifetime into a bottle for us all to remember and build upon going forward. Although we are cautioned that not all change sticks, in the hands of these authors, we come away with the hope that we are on our way. Mending Education is an important, informative, uplifting, and inspiring read. Thank you!!”
—Madelaine Claire Weiss, LICSW, MBA, BCC, licensed psychotherapist, speaker, author of SEL middle-grade book
“I read this book through the lenses of my own mild PTSD after COVID (not a lot of suffering for me, but the pandemic did affect me) and my own equally mild PTSD after UNLV’s school shooting. In addition to the art throughout the book, the lessons learned from COVID that the authors express here are more than just the surface-level 'people can adapt' generalities that infuse so many post-pandemic books. The stories in the book brought the lessons to life, and I am able to use the book’s suggestions about the pandemic’s positives (and how to make those positives 'sticky') to find ways to help my post-shooting colleagues and students heal from the additional trauma that the shooting added to our post-pandemic recovery. This book is thoughtful, creative, and meaningful, and it should be a must-read.”
—Nancy B. Rapoport, UNLV Distinguished Professor, Garman Turner Gordon Professor of Law, William S. Boyd School of Law, Affiliate Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Lee Business School
