Give him an A for ambition
Here's a recent article in the LA Times about Barr:
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Give him an A for ambition
By Joel Rubin
Times Staff Writer
February 20, 2007
Times Staff Writer
February 20, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-barr20feb20,1,223108.story?coll=la-news-learning
STEVE Barr may not be a household name, but he is doing more these days to shake up public education in Los Angeles than anyone but Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Barr is pushy, ambitious and determined to draw attention to his 10 charter high schools, publicly financed campuses that, in exchange for boosting student achievement, are given broad freedom to design their curriculum and to avoid many other restrictions set by school districts.
He believes they should be the model for transforming the nation's second-largest school district, saving a couple hundred thousand minority students and enticing middle-class families back to city schools along the way.
Critics counter that Barr's early success is unsustainable and exaggerated. Barr, they say, is a politician in educator's clothing.
They might not be all wrong: Barr wants to be mayor too.
"My mission is systemic change," Barr said. "I don't want to be building charter school No. 49."
STEVE Barr may not be a household name, but he is doing more these days to shake up public education in Los Angeles than anyone but Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Barr is pushy, ambitious and determined to draw attention to his 10 charter high schools, publicly financed campuses that, in exchange for boosting student achievement, are given broad freedom to design their curriculum and to avoid many other restrictions set by school districts.
He believes they should be the model for transforming the nation's second-largest school district, saving a couple hundred thousand minority students and enticing middle-class families back to city schools along the way.
Critics counter that Barr's early success is unsustainable and exaggerated. Barr, they say, is a politician in educator's clothing.
They might not be all wrong: Barr wants to be mayor too.
"My mission is systemic change," Barr said. "I don't want to be building charter school No. 49."
posted by Whitney Tilson at 6:07 PM
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