Published Articles & Media
Blog
The End of an Era: Ravitch v. Klein
Diane Ravitch took some parting shots at Joel Klein last week with a short post on the New York Review of Books’ blog headlined “New York’s New School Czar.”
Blog
End of an era in New York City
The public education world shook yesterday with the news that New York City’s Chancellor Joel Klein was resigning.
Blog
To Close or Not to Close? Not a Question in Gotham
While the research jury may still be out on the turnaround versus closure question, New York City has at least come to appreciate the human dimension. Instead of just announcing a school closure, as it has done in the past, this year school officials are meeting with parents and staff “before making a final decision.”
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The Culture of Poverty — or the Poverty of Culture?
Bottom line: our education system has perpetuated the culture of poverty legend long enough, not by failing to integrate schools, but by failing to teach black children.
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Be Quiet! Sit Up! Listen! Tie Your Shoes! Character Ed Takes It on the Shins!
Why was I not surprised to read the Education Week story on a new federal study, “the largest…to date,” says Ed Week, that pooh-poohs character education? (ie. It doesn’t work.)
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Carroll to Charter Colleagues: Just say NO!
Thomas Carroll, one of New York’s leading charter school directors, has just sent out a memo to fellow charter network operators in the Empire State urging them NOT to participate in Race to the Top. Carroll says that the red tape that comes with the money is not worth it for charters.
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From “Sailing the Ocean Blue” to “I Pledge Allegiance”
I was gratified to see the new book on the Pledge of Allegiance that I co-authored with Jeffrey Owen Jones reviewed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday morning. Unfortunately, I never met Jones whose book this was — and is. A gifted television and film producer who stumbled onto the Pledge tale while teaching at the University of Rochester, Jones unfortunately died before he could finish the project. Tom Dunne, a longtime friend and publisher with St. Martin’s Press, asked me if I could help.
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And the Answer Is? (Shh! We Can’t Tell You!)
Though nothing that most educators didn’t know, Jennifer Medina’s front-page story in the New York Times this morning is worth reading—if you like reviewing, in slow motion, the tape of a train wreck.
Blog
King of the Mountain!
David Steiner, the New York State Education Commissioner, surely knows that politics in New York state is a blood sport and that the powerful teachers union plays it well. But he also seems to be wise enough not to shout “King of the Mountain!”