![]() ![]() We see a kindergarten teacher bring a little boy to tears by telling him he must skip a favorite activity - blocks - because he was daydreaming and his “book review doesn’t make sense.” We later see the same teacher break down crying as she describes why she felt she had to do that. At Bronx 1, the elementary school he follows in the impoverished South Bronx, we meet parents who embrace stern discipline and sky-high expectations in service of pressing their children to achieve and others who find the approach harassing. Pondiscio’s “How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice” may not be the book Moskowitz wants to read after all. Do you want to read her book, or do you want to read my book?” In a recent interview published online, he reprised his pitch to Moskowitz: “Right now, somebody in this town is offering Kate Taylor a book contract to write about Success Academy. Fordham Institute, Pondiscio is allied with the education reform and charter movements, but not hesitant to criticize them. Robert Pondiscio, a former public-school teacher in the South Bronx who became an education writer, won Moskowitz’s permission to embed himself for a year inside one of her more than 40 schools to discover once and for all how Success does what it does. In 2016, the New York Times reporter Kate Taylor posted a hidden-camera recording of a Success teacher ripping up a first grader’s incorrect math work, then ordering her off the classroom rug. That is partly because its founder and leader is the former New York City Council member Eva Moskowitz, whose hardball politics and support of punitive consequences for noncompliant students and parents have stirred public backlash. Not only do they dramatically outperform children across the city, erasing the achievement gap between white and black, rich and poor, they even beat the privileged kids in suburban Scarsdale and Chappaqua.ĭivining the secret to Success’ success has been an obsession for years in media and education circles. ![]() With considerable fanfare, the network announces that its predominantly low-income and minority students have once again defied their demographics, earning consistently impressive scores on the state’s standardized tests. HOW THE OTHER HALF LEARNS Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice By Robert PondiscioĮvery fall, astonishing news emerges from Success Academy, the largest and most controversial charter school network in New York City. ![]()
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