Category Archives: Uncategorized

Like many teachers around the country, I am currently teaching my students in a room by myself. Remote teaching is very taxing. It takes me about five to ten times as long as it used to to prepare my lessons … Continue reading →

Success Academy is the largest and most controversial charter network in New York City. With over 15,000 students, Success Academy is known for their high state test scores. Though Success Academy has been in existence for about 14 years already, … Continue reading →

There’s nothing I like more than talking about math.  There is no math topic that I find too trivial that it is not worthy of intense discussion.  I remember when I was living in Houston and my roommate was a … Continue reading →

Even though most people who read this blog know me as a critic of ed reform, the thing that I spend most of my time thinking about, actually, is how students learn math and what the best ways to teach … Continue reading →

Success Academy is the largest and most controversial charter chain in New York.  By one measure — state test scores — it is the most successful.  But over the years they have been embroiled in several significant scandals.  The two … Continue reading →

Thomas Sowell is an economist and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His lengthy career has spanned six decades and he is a well respected conservative scholar. He has recently published a thin volume called ‘Charter Schools And Their … Continue reading →

I recently listened to two illuminating podcasts about Success Academy.  Hosted by Education Post CEO Chris Stewart on the Citizen Ed podcast, the first interview was with Robert Pondiscio, author of ‘How The Other Half Learns’ and the second was … Continue reading →

For the past thirty summers, Teach For America has trained their new recruits in a five-week crash course known as ‘the institute.’  The first institute trained 500 corps members in Los Angeles.  As TFA grew, more institutes were added and … Continue reading →

But is that a lot? The New York Post seems to think so.  Three times in a recent article they suggest that this is 100% of the seniors.  The title “Entire Success Academy senior class accepted to college” certainly implies … Continue reading →

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter network is renowned as the ‘gold star’ of charter schools in the country.  With over 200 schools throughout the country and over 100,000 students, KIPP is the kind of network that reformers are … Continue reading →