Higher Ed Resource of the Week: The B.A. Breakthrough

Richard Whitmire is the author of The B.A. Breakthrough: How Ending Diploma Disparities Can Change the Face of America, which is published by the education news site the74million.org. This nonprofit, non-partisan news site is devoted to reforming the American education system so that the 74 million children under the age of 18 can receive the education they deserve. Whitmire, former editorial writer for USA Today, is perhaps best known for his 2010 book Why Boys Fail, which exposed the underachievement of males in K-16 education and analyzed the factors that cause it. More recently, his work has focused on the schools, especially charter schools, that are most effective at educating low-income students. This new book tells the story of high schools that are preparing first-generation students to succeed in colleges and colleges that support them effectively so that they earn a degree. Currently, the book is for sale only in Kindle format for $2.99, but the website says a hard copy will be released. There is also a companion website.