Eva Moskowitz Should Be Considered for Schools Chancellor
Diane Ravitch, an anti-education reform advocate, mockingly suggested that Bill de Blasio should choose Eva Moskowitz for NYC schools chancellor if he's elected mayor. But in an opinion article for the New York Daily News, the Manhattan Institute's Charles Sahm says the off-hand suggestion should be a serious consideration for both mayoral candidates.
Moskowitz, a member of the StudentsFirstNY Board of Directors, founded the Success Academy network of charter schools. On the Common Core tests, 82 percent of Success Academy students passed the math standards and 58 percent past the English standards, well above state and NYC averages. Sahm argues that Moskowitz gets results that the City should try and replicate in all public schools:
Instead of denigrating Moskowitz, de Blasio should be asking: What lessons can we learn from the success of her schools? How can we incorporate the basic tenets of her schools - more instructional time, high-quality teachers, use of data to drive instruction and extra help for those students who fall behind, parent involvement, a culture of discipline, rigor, and high expectations - in all schools? (Some of these reforms would require modifications to the teachers' contract, but perhaps de Blasio could convince the union to reimagine what is possible.)
