Mike Bloomberg was in charge of the country’s largest public school district. Here are 8 key questions for him.
Klein was a corporate executive and former head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. He and Bloomberg insisted bad teachers were the biggest cause of low performance by students — not outside influences — and said they believed they could use students’ standardized test scores to identify “bad” teachers.
Bloomberg and Klein believed in operating schools as if they were businesses. They closed nearly 100 low-performing schools and opened small ones; fueled the expansion of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated; gave principals more autonomy, and raised pay for teachers but attacked teacher tenure and union-backed due process.
They also elevated the primacy of student standardized tests, using the scores to evaluate teachers and CONTINUE READING: Mike Bloomberg was in charge of the country’s largest public school district. Here are 8 key questions for him. - The Washington Post