Can Mayor Gray make the grade on D.C. school reform?
Thursday, January 6, 2011; 8:00 PM
I admit it: I'm among those who have had very serious doubts about Vincent Gray as D.C. mayor.
As a former urban teacher, I understand how fragile the District's progress on education reform still is. I know that changing the culture of a single school takes tremendous work. For instance, in an effort to inspire the elementary students in my Brooklyn school to prioritize college, we consciously praised "college behavior," warned students whose behavior was "taking them away from college," took them (kindergartners and up) to college campuses and sang multiple songs about college each day. That may seem excessive, but
