Ruth Wright Hayre, a pioneering African-American educator, took a "leap of faith" and personally guaranteed students from Philadelphia's grittiest neighborhoods a chance to go to college. This is the story of the family and traditions that inspired that phenomenal gift and the journey that took 116 boys and girls through six years of public school life on the wings of one woman's passion for learning.

Here in Hayre's own words is an honest, highly personal account of her determination to make a real difference in their lives. Born into a family that had prized learning since the days of slavery, Hayre never doubted the value of education. As a teacher, principal, administrator, college professor, and finally as a member and president of the Philadelphia Board of Education, she was always a fearless warrior for social progress.

Just before she turned 80, Hayre took on her greatest challenge: the "Tell Them We Are Rising Program". Hayre's deal with her "Risers" was simple: graduate from high school and she'd pay their college tuition. Tell Them We Are Rising chronicles Hayre's experiences as a "grandmom" absorbed in the lives of these adolescents. Behind their struggles, including pregnancies, disciplinary troubles, lack of motivation, and family problems, she discovered incredible strengths, sorrows, the gift of mother wit, and the resilience of grace.

At a time when teachers and families everywhere are looking for ways to reinvent our schools and renew our society, Tell Them We Are Rising celebrates the life of an extraordinary teacher whose persistence transformed despair intohope for a generation of children.