Possible Schools: The Reggio Approach to Urban Education.

POSSIBLE SCHOOLS: The Reggio Approach to Urban Education. Ann Lewin-Benham. New York: Teachers College Press, 2006. 163 pp. Soft-cover, $22.95. This inspirational book includes 11 chapters exploring the birth and the ultimate dismantling of the Model Early Learning Center, which was located on the fifth floor of the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, D.C. The author, Ann Lewin-Benham, founded the Model Early Learning Center (MELC) in 1988 to pursue her interest in Italy's Reggio Emilia preschools and apply them to the teaching of African American children.

Lewin-Benham visited Reggio schools in March 1992 to get a sense of those schools' philosophy of working with preschoolers. The author and her staff also began exploring and reclaiming the Reggio approach to teaching. She had them read articles to understand the methodology to use with preschoolers. She found that the Reggio approach allowed teachers to recognize their preschoolers' potential through activities focusing on the children's needs. The teachers' documentation of their children's work through panels further demonstrated "textual/visual" preschool information.

Lewin-Benham discusses how MELC began with two teachers, two assistants, and one aide. She tells of her struggles to find a director who would stay at MELC throughout the chaos that comes with developing a new school. After the fifth MELC director left, Lewin-Benham decided to assume this role.

In 1997, the MELC lost its accreditation due to problems with leadership and organizational structure, and closed its doors. The author reflects on how she might have done things differently at MELC if she had the chance. Reviewed by Mark Brown, Daemen College, Amherst, New York.