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Gotham Gazette
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The Topic
Education refers to the organization and performance of the public schools and public support institutions established for teaching children from pre-K-12th.
The Context
NYC's public education system is the nation's largest. Over a million pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students attend its 1,100-plus schools. The head of the school system is the chancellor, who is appointed by the mayor. The chancellor is advised by the Panel for Educational Policy on which sit five parents appointed by the borough presidents and seven mayoral appointees. Under a newly reorganized Department of Education (which has replaced the long-time Board of Education), the city's elementary, middle and high schools are administered by 10 regions headed by regional superintendents. (The organization of the system is described in a Department of Education guide for parents.) There is extraordinary variety across the system: schools of every size and stripe, and at every echelon from first-rate to failing. Less than half of each high school class graduates in four years--and, even with extra time, only 70 percent of NYC kids can count on a diploma.

Best Books About Education

Sort books by: Author | Title | Publisher | Year

NEW YORK CITY’S BEST PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS: A PARENTS’ GUIDE
PUBLIC MIDDLE SCHOOLS: NEW YORK CITY’S BEST
NEW YORK CITY’S BEST PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS: A PARENTS’ GUIDE
Clara Hemphill
(Teachers College Press, .)

Written by an award-winning journalist, this series of books is indispensable for finding the best the New York City public schools have to offer. more info...

 

City Schools: Lessons from New York
by Diane Ravitch and Joseph Viteritti (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. 416 pp.)

An in-depth look at the nation's largest school system by researchers and educators who explore topics such as the changing demographics of city schools, the impending teacher shortage, reading instruction, special education, bilingual education, school governance, charter schools, choice, school finance reform, and collective bargaining. more info...

In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization
by Deborah Meier (Beacon Press, 2002. 224 pp.)

According to Meier, the current educational panacea, increased standardized testing, will do nothing to create academic excellence. From her own experience developing and running alternative public schools, Meier believes schools must be small, self-governed places of choice, so students and their families feel part of communities of learning. more info...

Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom
by Lisa D. Delpit (New Press, 1996. 206 pp.)

An analysis of the power imbalances and dynamics of inequality at work in public school classrooms today and their effects on children of color by a MacArthur-Award-winning author. more info...

Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools
by Jonathan Kozol (Harper Perennial, 1992. 272 pp.)

A former teacher, Kozol has written many books on the effects of poverty and racism on young children. This is his classic exposé of the coexisting extremes of wealth and poverty in our public schools. more info...

The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools That Work
by Linda Darling-Hammond (Jossey-Bass, 2001. 394 pp.)

A former Teachers College professor and one of the country’s most well-respected educators, Darling-Hammond uses her knowledge of what works in New York City and elsewhere to describe the changes in policy and practice "needed to make all of our schools both learner centered and learning centered." more info...

Reader Submissions / Others.

• Morris High School And The Creation Of The New York City Public High School System by Dr. Gary Hermalyn. The first comprehensive history on the subject. Here is an engaging portrait of new york city at a crucial turning point in the development of america's growing urban society. In 1896 the school reform act provided for the reorganization of the new york city board of education and the creation of the first public high schools. This is the story of those tumultous times.

• The Strike that Changed New York by Podair. A study of the intricacies and larger ramifications of the 1968 teacher strike and the struggle for community control of public schools.

Interested in other books about NYC? Visit our NYC Books section.

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