Coming Soon...

An article coming out in this week's Globe magazine examines the high pressure world of 21st century kindergarten. The article briefly mentions Edward W. Brooke Charter School. I think it's important to make a distinction between wealthy suburbs and urban schools. In wealthy suburbs, most kids who start school have important literacy skills before starting kindergarten. In low-income, urban schools like Edward Brooke, many kids start kindergarten not even knowing how to hold a book correctly, let alone knowing their alphabet or numbers. While suburban parents are striving to get their kids into Harvard, charter schools like Edward Brooke are trying to reverse an achievement gap that arose before the kids even got to school. This, to me, seems like a more important goal, and one which might warrant giving up some playtime for a greater focus on math and literacy.

And on the wireless, RadioBoston was supposed to do a piece on charter schools this week, but it was bumped for special on Ted Kennedy. The charter school piece should air a week from today on WBUR.

Finally, I appreciate the love that I got from MATCH's Mike Goldstein, who was guest blogging over at Eduwonk. I'd love to hear from the Eduwonk crowd if you're out there reading...