Alexander Russo

Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School AP: Members of the Seattle Education Association, which represents about 5,000 teachers and support staff, said they will picket at all 97 schools Wednesday. See also NPR, NYT, Seattle Public Radio. What makes a public school public? Washington state court finds charter schools unconstitutional Washington Post: Opponents of charter […]

I’m still working on my own look at the journalistic strengths and weaknesses of “The Prize,” but in the meantime there are some other reviews you might want to read or know about: Perhaps the best two pieces I’ve come across are from the Newark Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran including an opinion piece on where things […]

State Supreme Court: Charter schools are unconstitutional Seattle Times: The ruling — believed to be one of the first of its kind in the country — overturns the law voters narrowly approved in 2012 allowing publicly funded, but privately operated, schools. 10 Years In, Tulsa’s Pre-K Investment Is Paying Off NPR: These findings are important because Tulsa’s program is […]

A screengrab from Malcolm Gladwell’s New Orleans retrospective BEST WRITING New Yorker: Lessons from NOLA ow.ly/RHGDV American Prospect: Obama’s Mixed Record on School Integration http://ow.ly/ROmWJ Tampa Bay Times: For 31 kids, this is what it’s like to go to resegregated schools ow.ly/RHfPl ProPublica: Asians Nearly Twice as Likely to Get a Higher Price from Princeton […]

I’m off for Labor Day weekend — hope you are, too. If you absolutely need to reach me, try @alexanderrusso or text me at 312-286-9242. Be safe. See you next week.

Six years ago, The Answer Sheet was launched. Funny/ironic welcoming comment from Jay Mathews. pic.twitter.com/s5EpRDzTJ9 — The Grade (@grade_point) September 1, 2015 Six years ago this week, the Washington Post launched The Answer Sheet and veteran columnist Jay Mathews welcomed its appearance and touted Valerie Strauss on his own site: “As many readers discerned years […]

Last week I had the chance to talk with PDK’s Josh Starr about the media coverage of the organization’s annual poll. Generally, Starr and his colleagues seemed pleased by the amount and quality of the attentionhttp://washingtonmonthly.com/the-grade/2015/08/pdk_poll_coverage_reveals_hung057308.php# they’d received. The main concern was that reporters tend to miss opportunities to return to the poll results during […]

Biden Talks Education; Miami Audience Listens For Clues To Presidential Bid NPR: Vice President Joe Biden is mulling a run for the White House. He made an education speech in Miami on Wednesday, but made no mention of politics or his deliberations. See also NYT. More Students Are Taking The SAT, Even As Scores Fail […]

Obama’s Mixed Record on School Integration American Prospect: While a handful of small programs have taken steps toward promoting diversity, desegregation has remained absent from Obama’s signature education initiatives.  Congressman Decides To Teach Little Kids About Suicide Bombers HuffPost: Things took a dark turn, however, when Salmon opted to use current events to illustrate how vetoes work, KPHO reports. The […]

The deluge of New Orleans coverage may be peaking, but there’s another deluge to come in the form of publicity surrounding Jonathan Franz..  Dale Russakoff’s new book about Newark, The Prize. To help get yourself ready (or perhaps as a form of inoculation, you might take a look at four big reviews of the book, which comes […]