Back to School in a System Being Remade

This article from yesterday's NYT nicely captures the enormous, positive changes that Bloomberg and Klein are making to NYC schools.  FYI, the teacher pictured as part of this article is a 2006 Teach for America corps member.

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Back to School in a System Being Remade

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

Published: September 5, 2006

www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/nyregion/05schools.html

New York City’s 1.1 million public school students return to the classroom today with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg entering a new phase in his overhaul of the education system — pushing to change the management culture and prove that mayoral control of the schools is yielding sustainable gains in student performance.

For the first time this fall, 321 principals, more than a fifth of those in the system, will no longer answer to a superintendent and will have greater authority over their budgets, staff and instruction. In exchange, they have agreed to meet performance targets and could face dismissal in two years if they fail.