Renowned UK Author to Launch New Book at International School of Minnesota

For Immediate Release

Prof James Tooley

Contact: Amy Wesley, 1-952-918-1822, awesley@sabis.net

Professor James Tooley, acclaimed author and UK education policy expert, will launch his latest work From Village School to Global Brand: Changing the World through Education at an event held at The International School of Minnesota in Eden Prairie on Monday, October 8, 2012.

Enjoying a prolonged period in the public spotlight, education and the best way to ensure improved standards is a topic on everyone’s minds from parents to politicians. In his latest book, James Tooley looks at one for-profit education management organization that has been successfully improving education standards in its private and public schools around the world.

With schools in 15 countries on four continents, SABIS® has been running schools for over 125 years and has been delivering astonishing results. Its success rate is impressive, turning around some of the poorest schools in the U.S. and challenging many widespread beliefs about education: that smaller classes are better, that learning through memorization is wrong, that education has to be top-down, from teacher to student, and that deprived kids can’t learn.

The book is a journey through time – tracing the company from its humble origins in 1886 in Lebanon, through a myriad of historical ups and downs to the present day. It also travels across continents, from Kurdistan to Katrina – from the first international schools in war-torn northern Iraq, to one of the first charter schools to reopen after the hurricane devastated inner city New Orleans. It’s a journey into the minds of committed educators, watching as they grapple with the fundamental question of how young people are educated in the virtues that have withstood the test of time, while still enabling them to be prepared for a future of unknown possibilities.

James Tooley is a professor of education policy at Newcastle University in the U.K., where he directs the E.G. West Center. He is currently the chairman of education companies in Ghana and China, creating embryonic chains of low-cost private schools for the very poor. The sought after speaker is author of numerous books on education including The Beautiful Tree published by the US-based CATO Institute.

From Village School to Global Brand is published by U.K.-based Profile Books and is available through Barnes and Noble and Amazon in print and E-book format.

Praise for From Village School to Global Brand: “In this engaging and inspirational book, Professor Tooley presents the story of one of the most enduring and committed players in the education field.” --Harry Patrinos, Lead Education Economist, The World Bank

The book launch event is free and open to the public. For more information about the event at The International School of Minnesota, visit www.theSABISstory.com.