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I’ve had the opportunity to sit at a number of education policy tables over the years. To the often heated discussions, I’ve tried to bring a mother’s common sense: an unwavering belief in the potential of every child and unapologetic impatience with excuses. My approach is simple. I ask: What if it were my child?
This report presents an investigation conducted by CREDO over the past two years. We examined charter school performance in urban areas, driven by our ongoing effort to identify successful models for educating America’s students, particularly students of color and students living in poverty.
The “Fight for their Future” series hits close to home. I’m a mother of five who has lived this struggle and sees the effects of failing schools every day.
My son Shaquell is 19 today, and attends Brooklyn Frontier High School for struggling students because he was the product of a broken system. His zoned elementary school failed him horribly.
One fourth of New York City schools are severely failing —371 schools, where not even 1 in 10 students meets academic benchmarks for English, math, or college readiness. In response to this crisis — failure on a truly massive scale — the mayor and chancellor have a grand scheme to “renew” fewer than 100 schools. Even worse, they are entrusting these turnaround efforts to the same slow-footed bureaucracy that has allowed the problem to persist for decades.