No, I'm not referring to this survey from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, though there are some promising tidbits. (Six in ten parents express interest in enrolling their children in charter schools once they are described as "independent public schools that are free to be more innovative and are held accountable for improved student achievement.")
I am referring to the fantastic news (hat tip to Alexander Russo ) that reporter Diana Jean Schemo is leaving the New York Times . Schemo wrote the infamous 2004 front-page story, "Nation's Charter Schools Lagging Behind, U.S. Test Scores Reveal ," which was an AFT-aided hit job on the charter movement. (Read all about it in Jeff Henig's newish book on the topic .) She also completely politicized the paper's coverage of the Reading First program (see here and pages 28 to 31 here ) and, in a 2006 column , finally admitted her own skepticism that schools can do much good for kids in poverty:
A growing body of research suggests that while schools can make a difference for individual students, the fabric of children's lives outside of school can either nurture, or choke, what progress poor children do make academically.
Russo reports that Schemo is now working on a book about the Naval Academy. That's too bad for the Academy--but good for K-12 schools.
