Member Since 2009

Peter Meyer


Peter Meyer is a former News Editor of Life magazine and the author of numerous nonfiction books, including the critically acclaimed The Yale Murder (Empire Books, 1982; Berkley Books, 1983) and Death of Innocence (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1985; Berkley Books, 1986). Over the course of his three-decade journalism career Meyer, who holds a masters degree in history from the University of Chicago, has touched down in cities around the globe, from Bennington to Baghdad, and has written hundreds of stories, on subjects as varied as anti-terrorist training for American ambassadors to the history of the 1040 income tax form. His work has appeared in such publications as Harper's, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, New York, Life, Time and People. Since 1991 Meyer has focused his attentions on education reform in the United States, an interest joined while writing a profile of education reformer E.D. Hirsch for Life. Meyer subsequently helped found a charter school, served on his local Board of Education (twice) and, for the last eight years, has been an editor at Education Next. His articles for the journal include “The Early Education of our Next President” (Fall 2008), “New York City’s Education Battles: The mayor, the schools, and the `rinky-dink candy store’” (Spring 2008), “Learning Separately: The case for single-sex schools” (Winter 2008), and “Can Catholic Schools Be Saved?” (Spring 2007). Meyer also writes and edits, mostly on education, for the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, where he is a Senior Visiting Fellow.

Published Articles & Media

Zen and the Art of School Board Maintenance

The problem is that local school boards can’t wait around for the folks who have caused our cancers to cure them.

A Bronx Cheer for Bloomberg? A New Poll is Harsh

I felt a bit sad reading this morning’s New York Times poll report showing that New Yorkers are now broadly dissatisfied with their school system and that most say the city’s school system has stagnated or declined since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of it nine years ago.

More Power Politics in New York. Or, Another Hacking Victim

New Yorkers were reminded yesterday that politics can be bloody when the state’s comptroller pulled the plug on a multi-million-dollar no-bid contract to Wireless Generation to set up a data-base for New York City’s schools.

The Union Wins a Big One in New York: Judge Tosses Out Most of Teacher Eval System

On Wednesday a state judge in Albany ruled that student test scores on state exams could not be used for 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation and that NYBOR’s and NYSED’s cut scores for grading teachers was unfairly slanted to favor those student scores.

The End of the Era of Accountability?

My only hope is that we don’t let education policy get hijacked by the same partisan bickering that flavored the debt-ceiling standoff a couple weeks ago. Our education system lost its AAA rating several generations ago.

The Information Gap – Serious Policy Implications

It would be too simplistic to say that the difference between good schools and bad is in the quality of the information the public gets about its schools. But the swing in public opinion the size of that reported by the PEPG/Ed Next survey should be a wake-up call: get the information out.

Cheating in the Keystone State

Michael Winerip is on a roll. After a good piece of reporting on the Atlanta cheating scandal a couple of weeks ago, he has turned in a solid story about the testing mess rolling into Pennsylvania.

Reading is NOT Fundamental: Knowledge Is

It is encouraging news that New York City’s three-year-old pilot project testing the content-rich Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum has proved so far “a brilliant experiment in reading.”

News of the World: rocketships, suburban charters, parent triggers, cheating, merit pay — and even Winerip does good

Okay, it’s not exactly what Rupert might condone, but since he and his crew are preoccupied, I offer some education highlights from my weekend reading.

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