Paul Tough’s Hard Work of Helping Children Succeed

In the acknowledgments of Helping Children Succeed, Paul Tough’s latest ruminations on same, the best-selling author concedes that he had originally thought of the slim 125-page book as nothing more than an online report.  His literary agent disabused him of that notion, visions of new readers dancing in his head. …

Test Nation III: A Dance of Redemption

It was a moment that called for John Coltrane. The California Alliance of Researchers for Equity in Education—love that acronym, CARE-ED— had revealed the truth about the Common Core State Standards and high-stakes assessment: Overall, there is not a compelling body of research supporting the notion that a nationwide set …

Segregation: The Achilles’ Heel of Bill de Blasio’s Pre-K Initiative

September 9th marks the first birthday of Bill de Blasio’s universal preschool initiative, a cornerstone of his agenda to combat inequality. On this day the largest and most segregated school district in the nation will greet its children. Segregation is hardly a new phenomenon in New York City. It’s been …