TeacherJay's EduBlog

I have long been skeptical of Mr. Joel I. Klein’s qualifications for his leadership of the New York City school system, and certainly of his motives in doing so.  In what seems to be a spreading epidemic, complete control of the school system was taken away from elected community school boards and usurped by Mayor [...]

A new school opened this past fall aims to work with new students – students who are not only new to the United States and New York City, but who maybe new to school – period.  Named after the name of the island in New York Harbor known for the millions of immigrants that [...]

Jonathan Kozol’s 2005 book, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America , looks at the issue of racial integration in the nation’s schools. Over 50 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and forcing the integration of America’s schools, we [...]

On January 9, the New York Times ran an article by Sara Rimer about immigrant students and their parents who are happier with their children in charter schools that cater to an international community.  The article takes a good look at why these schools are more comfortable places for recent immigrant students as they learn [...]

As an editor of the New York Times Magazine, Paul Tough is also a leading author on the issues of poverty, education, and the achievement gap. This new book takes a look at the idea Geoffrey Canada, the President and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, has for improving the success rates of African-American students, who, [...]