With Teacher Appreciation Week, Mother’s Day weekend, and National Charter Schools Week all coinciding, the Charter Center is pleased to share this guest blog post by Christina Reyes, founding school leader of Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School in upper Manhattan. Today I write an ode to the mother teacher.…
Joe Nocera, writing in his new column on The New York Times Op-Ed page, accuses the education reform movement of hubris and prescribes reformers a dose of humility as to what reform can and cannot accomplish. I’ll leave to others to point out that the beliefs attributed to the movement…
The NY Post wrote the book on tabloid headlines. They can’t all be “Headless Body in Topless Bar” but the headline on a charter school article this weekend was the worst I’ve seen: “Charters ënix 23%’ of kids.” How can I put this? No they don’t. The headline refers to…
Please, go now and read Jonathan Mahler’s NYT Magazine profile of RamÛn Gonz·lez, star principal of Middle School 223 in the Bronx. It’s a subtle, illuminating, balanced, superb piece of education journalism, worth reading more than once. Policy debates aside, it’s a portrait of educational heroesóreminding us again how just…
New York needs vigilant eyes on its school reform efforts, not just when they’re announced but over time when Albany interests can resist and co-opt. The New York Post editorial board fills this watchdog role with relish (and we've had occasion to be thankful for it), but today it bit…
In its report on the Mayor’s proposed budget for 2012, the NYC Independent Budget Office took another big step back from integrity on charter school issues. Issuing selective, one-sided revisions was apparently just the teaser: now, for the main event, the agency is ready to discuss education policy and appoint…
What should be required to graduate from high school in New York? Should we move toward higher graduation standards, a more flexible system, or some combination of both? The State Education Department wants your opinion to share with the Regents. Take the online survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LJTTZ6R Estimated completion time is…
When the NYC Independent Budget Office issued a Fiscal Brief on charter vs. district school funding last year, I called it a landmark study that shows a serious fiscal inequity. It still is, and it still does, even after today’s release of a revision and update to that study.* Today’s…
Last year New York State recalibrated its achievement levels for grades 3-8 after years of grade inflation. It was a sobering day for public education, charter schools included. The State Education Department (SED) now plans the same rip-the-bandaid approach to high school achievement, and it’s the right decision. “College prep”…
