Silent, single-file lines. Detention for putting a head on a desk. Rules for how to dress, how to applaud, how to complete homework. Walk into some of the most acclaimed urban schools today and you will find similar recipes of behavior, designed to support student achievement. But what do these "scripts" accomplish? Immersing readers inside a "no-excuses" charter school, Scripting the Moves offers a telling window into an expanding model of urban...

Five teenagers with nothing in common spend a Saturday detention in the school library.

Elle Campbell is a non-binary seventh-grader who is excited their hero non-binary star Nuri Grena is coming to their town for a book signing--it was Nuri's story that inspired Elle to declare themselves and they are not about to let detention stop them and their friends from meeting Nuri.

Five high school students-- a Rebel, an Athlete, a Brain, a Princess and a Basketcase-- find themselves thrown together serving a Saturday morning detention. They do not have much in common, except giving up their day, sitting in the school library, and writing an essay for the principal. At first, they argue and hate each other, but after smoking some of the Rebel's marijuana, they begin to pour their hearts out to each other. They talk about their...