Green Dot CEO Marco Petruzzi’s letter to the New York Review of Booksmade several good points regarding the progress achieved by Locke High School in Los Angeles. The school turnaround produced modest increases in test scores while, more importantly, increasing student retention, safety, and the school’s academic climate. He did not, however, fully address Diane Ravitch’s larger point that the Locke success says little about whether
More than anything else, America’s cities desperately need world-class schools that will keep parents within city borders, and that remains the great urban challenge facing 21st century America...Fixing urban school systems throughout the country has proved to be far harder than fighting crime. - Economist Edward L. Glaeser in the New York Times
