A brief history of the DOE

Posted by Philissa at 5:17 PM

In the July 9 issue of the Nation, which is online now, Columbia professor Lynnell Hancock has a long article about the city's schools, titled "School's Out." For those of us who have been carefully watching the schools since Bloomberg and Klein took them over, there isn't too much new information, but if you need a refresher about the many changes that have taken place, it's a useful summary. Hancock touches on the administration's corporate contacts and connections, the bus crisis, social promotion, small schools, parent involvement, and testing, among other issues. Here's a taste of her take on the system: "No matter how competent and committed the players at the top, public-sector reforms on this imposing scale may be doomed if the people most affected are left outside."