The Kid Across the Hall

The Fight for Opportunity in Our Schools

By: Reid Saaris

Narrated by: Mike Lenz

Growing up, Reid was confused and disturbed by the different opportunities his best friend received. The gap widened as Reid's classes enabled him to pursue an elite college degree across the country studying educational opportunity and teaching.

Then, Reid became a teacher at an under-resourced South Carolina high school where efforts to serve the incredible students were stymied by internal segregation and administrative ambivalence. After Reid assigned students a project to create a positive change, they pushed him to figure out how he, too, could make a bigger difference.

Reid learned firsthand that a community of people powered by data can effect change. This lesson motivated him to found Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS), a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to finding the students who were overlooked, discouraged, or otherwise missing from higher-level classes.

As EOS became more successful, partnering with major philanthropies, universities, and even the White House, Reid grappled with his role as a leader. Informed by extensive new data on educational opportunity in America, The Kid Across the Hall is a powerful story of learning and unlearning; of leading and learning to follow.

©2023 Reid Saaris (P)2024 Tantor