I assure you: If I were to hear a teacher raise a voice at a kid or anything, that goes against the model, and I would immediately address it.
Why doesn't anyone care that the schools in Harlem have been unsuccessful for half a century? Why is this not a big deal? To me, it's a terrible deal.
I took my teaching responsibilities very seriously... I taught some great courses: Legal history to feminist theory, courses in American mass culture... I love teaching - I mean really love it.
Success isn't ideal for every child. If we think a child would do better in a different school, whether it's a specialized program or just a school with a different approach, we'll tell a parent that, as we should.
It's one thing to have a president with whose politics you disagree; it's another to have a president who doesn't even seem to care about your welfare.
Suspensions convey the critical message to students and parents that certain behavior is inconsistent with being a member of the school community. Pretend suspensions, in which a student is allowed to remain in the school community, do not convey that message.
I believe education is a bipartisan issue, and I intend to support those educational policies of President Trump with which I agree.
I think it's fairly unique to define the end goal of K-12 schooling as helping students become better thinkers, more creative thinkers, and to organize the whole school around creative and critical thinking.
I'm troubled by what I see as a sort of rooting for Trump's failure, because that is rooting for our own failure.
Parents who don't like Success should find a school they do like. For someone to enroll their child at Success and insist we change our model is like a person walking into a pizzeria and demanding sushi. If you want sushi, go to a sushi restaurant!
One of the biggest reasons that teachers have trouble with student-centered learning is that they have to give over a level of control to the kids. And, when you do that, you can have chaos, or you can have high levels of learning. Often, teachers are afraid of the chaos.
What you get is what you see, which is suspending kids doesn't lead to high attrition rate. That is what the data shows.
I want kids to be able to escape failing schools that trap them. And it's an unequal trapping of children. The most affluent find a way to escape. They move to a great suburban district or send their kid to a private school. The people who are trapped in the worst schools that have been terrible often for half a century? Those are the poorest kids.
We must renew our commitment to instilling high moral character in our students, to teaching them to treat each other with kindness, to stand up for what is right, and to respect the diversity of backgrounds and experiences that strengthen our country.
I believe Betsy DeVos has the talent, commitment, and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools and deliver the promise of opportunity that excellent education provides, and I support her nomination as U.S. Secretary of Education.
Most teachers in America could dramatically improve their teaching if they just made every second count.
It is very challenging to have a kind of data-driven, performance-oriented culture and to do progressive pedagogy. These things don't naturally, or easily, go together.
I've never believed the charter movement was exclusively for socially and economically disadvantaged kids.