Unchartered: How One Public High School Transformed First-Generation College Success

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Erika M. Kitzmiller Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

Unchartered

Name: Unchartered
Price: 80.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9798895570876

How One Public High School Transformed First-Generation College Success

Erika M. Kitzmiller, Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

$80.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Harvard Educational Publishing Group
19 May 2026

Decision theory: general; Education; Educational strategies & policy; Secondary schools

A powerful exploration of what is possible when educators, researchers, and students collaborate to reimagine public education.

In Unchartered, Erika M. Kitzmiller draws from an innovative partnership at an under-resourced urban public school to reveal how it defied the odds to dramatically increase the success of first-generation college-bound youth. Through compelling storytelling and rigorous research, this book offers hope—and actionable strategies—for educators and leaders determined to expand opportunity and equity.

Rooted in a five-year, research-driven collaboration, this work takes readers inside the process that made real change possible. Rather than prescribing one-size-fits-all solutions, the book showcases how small but significant shifts in schoolwide structures and classroom instruction created lasting impact. Readers will discover how youth-driven inquiry, expanded course offerings, purposeful college seminars, and robust partnerships with community organizations dismantled barriers to college access and promoted resiliency in college. Kitzmiller highlights the crucial role of student agency, teacher leadership, and community engagement in building multiple pathways to postsecondary success—especially for students who have traditionally been underserved.

Unchartered is an invitation for K–12 leaders and policymakers to rethink reform and recognize the strengths already present in their schools. At a time when public education faces mounting challenges, especially competition from charter schools, this work offers practical insights, inspiration, and a call to action. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to foster meaningful, student-centered change in American high schools.

By: Erika M. Kitzmiller
Foreword by: Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz
Imprint: Harvard Educational Publishing Group
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9798895570876
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 19 May 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Erika Kitzmiller studies historical and contemporary policies and practices that contribute to inequality and identifies solutions to end it. She is a research associate professor at the University of Chicago's Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice's Urban Education Institute and a research affiliate with Gordon Institute for Advanced Study at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Reviews for Unchartered: How One Public High School Transformed First-Generation College Success

""Unchartered shows the endless possibilities that emerge from urban public school reform rooted in school-based educators collaborating with students instead of copying corporate takeovers with top-down, top heavy approaches. What emerges here is what so many long for: a space where an under-resourced urban public school actually serves as a vehicle for socioeconomic access and uplift for the masses."" - Camika Royal, associate professor and director of Doctoral Studies in Urban Educational Leadership, Morgan State University ""Drawing from her own experience as a teacher, researcher, and first-generation college student, Ericka Kitzmiller delivers a powerful and accessible story of the public high school that 'could.' In the context of a large, underfunded urban school district, she identifies elements of the school's success that are abundant and regenerative: friendship, trust, mutual respect, hard work, and intentionality. To the question of whether it is inevitable that we will keep failing our children, Ericka Kitzmiller answers an emphatic, 'NO.'"" - Amy Hillier, associate professor, University of Pennsylvania