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Download a PDF of This Article THE RIGORS OF SUCCESS New York’s Success Academy charter school network has been lionized for its sky-high test scores and robust curricular offerings—and decried for a rigidly disciplined school environment one opponent described as “abuse.” Opinions are just as divided on its combative and committed leader, Eva Moskowitz C’86. She’ll be happy to tell you who’s right. By Julia M. Klein unusual April snowstorm has within each square indicates where these prep, embody “joyful rigor.” Ongoing blanketed Manhattan with elementary school-age kids must sit, with teacher observation, a long school day, slush. In the gray hour after hands still and eyes “tracking,” or follow- and engaged parents who are required to An dawn, my taxi slides uptown ing, whoever is speaking. read to their elementary school-age chil- across wet, icy streets, dis- The rugs, says Success CEO and founder dren at home are other aspects of a com- gorging me at the modest sidewalk en- Eva S. Moskowitz C’86, are one element plex, evolving formula that Moskowitz trance to Success Academy Harlem 1. of the network’s school design, which and her staff continue to tweak. Uniformed in orange and blue, students prizes order, efficiency, and accountabil- The 54-year-old CEO is a fierce, com- here—“scholars” in the parlance of ity—but not those qualities alone. pact, indefatigable presence in a red Success Academy Charter Schools—are According to Moskowitz, her 47 New dress ornamented by a dramatic crystal arrayed on identical, multicolored rugs York City schools, with their enriched necklace and her trademark spike heels, divided into rows of squares. A circle curriculum and emphasis on college which don’t seem to slow her down. “The 52 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep|Oct 2018 PHOTO BY DON HAMERMAN Sep|Oct 2018 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 53 most towering 5’ 2” person in the uni- among the network’s donors, executives, utes each, we crowd into the back of class- verse,” quips Derrell Bradford, executive or board members. rooms equipped with white smartboards vice president of the education nonprof- One question is just how Success, and bins of carefully chosen books. it 50CAN and a Success board member. which relies on a mix of public funds and Students are quiet and attentive. A first- Moskowitz is living her own creed of philanthropy, has earned such dazzling grade reading teacher leads a discussion high expectations, creating an expand- scores—the highest in the state—on stan- about a picture book. A first-grade science ing network of charters that has made dardized tests. Educating a population teacher shows how an oscilloscope rep- her a potent, controversial force in both that is 76 percent low-income and 93 resents sound waves. Kindergarteners political and educational circles [“Alumni percent children of color, at a fraction of engage in block play, with one duo part- Profiles,” May|Jun 2009]. the per-pupil spending of many suburban nering to build a model of New York’s Charter school advocates use the words districts, it has vaulted its scholars past Flatiron building. Elsewhere, students “remarkable” and “incredible” to de- such upscale enclaves as Jericho, deconstruct “number stories” in math, scribe her accomplishments. Though she Scarsdale, and Chappaqua, not to men- learn chess strategy, or pursue art proj- is an avowed liberal Democrat, she was tion the city’s traditional public schools. ects. Direct instruction usually comprises interviewed by then-President-Elect “It’s not that we’re closing the achieve- only the first few minutes of each class Donald Trump W’68 for the post of US ment gap,” says Moskowitz, never one to period, after which students work in pairs Secretary of Education. (Her assistant, mince words. “We’re reversing it.” or individually and then share their ideas she says, was frantic at not being able to Another issue is just how useful a with the group. Every segment is timed. reach her when he called—she was in a model Success, which as of the current Even now, Moskowitz, a former college classroom coaching a second-grade math school year is serving 17,000 students, professor and, for three years, the princi- teacher.) After the interview, Moskowitz offers for public education in general. pal of Harlem 1, stops on occasion to pull withdrew her name from consideration, On this, as on just about every aspect of teachers aside and provide feedback, as and Trump ultimately tapped billionaire the network, opinions diverge. But her principals do regularly. Relentless in charter school champion Betsy DeVos Moskowitz says that she has been ap- her focus, she tells the Fellows that a for the post. proached to start schools elsewhere, math class was paced much too slowly, With her sharp tongue, combative na- domestically and abroad. Memphis and that the reading teacher could have ture, and unconcealed ambitions, the called, and “Dubai wants us,” she says. asked better questions. Always, Moskow- former New York City Council member “I don’t really want them.” For now at itz wants more, better, faster; her schools remains “the most polarizing figure in least, she is committed to New York City, are a laboratory where the experiment is New York City education today,” in the where she plans to open 100 schools, never quite finished. words of Diane Ravitch, an education with about 50,000 students, within the “What you saw here,” she tells the historian at New York University and a next decade or so. Fellows after the tour, “is a replicable prominent charter school critic. Carol Moskowitz leads the Fellows on a model. Everybody is executing against one Burris, executive director of the Network breakneck 25-minute tour of her pilot school design. So the dot rug is in every for Public Education, calls Moskowitz school, which opened in 2006 with 165 classroom, the curriculum is the same, the “extraordinarily talented,” as well as pas- students chosen, as state law requires, assessments are the same, the teacher sionate, fearless, and abrasive. The one- by random lottery. By 2017, about 17,000 training is the same, the school calendar time Long Island high school principal children were vying for 3,000 available is the same, the books in the school library deplores Moskowitz’s denigration of the slots, a tribute to the network’s results are the same. And some people view that, New York public school system and dis- or, its critics insist, Moskowitz’s market- in the education reform wars, as a con- likes her pedagogy and disciplinary ing savvy and fundraising prowess. Two straint on teachers and principals. methods. Nevertheless, “I think she does 2010 documentary films, The Lottery “And in my experience,” says Moskowitz, have the heart of somebody who wants and Waiting for “Superman,” chronicled a battle-hardened veteran of those bruis- positive change,” Burris says. that often heartbreaking, high-stakes ing wars, “it’s the opposite—it frees peo- process. “Last year, we sent 14,000 kids ple up to be responsive to the children in On the day of my visit, Moskowitz is ex- home empty-handed,” Moskowitz tells front of them.” Teachers find both “cre- plaining what makes Success tick to a the Fellows. “And those kids most likely ativity” and “autonomy,” she says, “in re- classroom of David Rockefeller Fellows— will not learn to read.” ally knowing the kids in front of them as vice presidents, managing directors, law We march quickly through immaculate mathematicians, as readers, as scientists.” firm partners, and other rising titans of corridors, past walls covered with bright There is little guesswork involved. “We business who may one day number displays of student artwork. For five min- are a very data-driven place, from the 54 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep|Oct 2018 home office down to the teacher level,” instituting a “golden plunger” award. Moskowitz says. “We expect teachers to “How you use Leaving Harlem 1 after the Rockefeller know the reading level and the reading Fellows event, she still stops to listen to goals and struggles of every kid in her a custodian’s complaint about sinks that class. [A phonics teacher] would know data to change are too small. Unsatisfied with reading which letter sounds every kid does not curricula on the market, she developed have yet. That is the level of granularity. practice—that her own THINK Literacy curriculum, Really the trick is to have the organiza- which emphasizes independent reading. tional infrastructure to know what to do really is the key.” She’s now working on fine-tuning the about that. How you use data to change writing curriculum, as well as develop- practice—that really is the key.” ing more sophisticated high school math and science offerings. (Success’s Ed The product of New York public schools, people into the ground” as Success grew Institute makes its curricula and other including academically selective Stuyves- and suggested she bring in a more expe- aspects of the network’s model available ant High School, Moskowitz once imag- rienced CEO. Instead, during the period for free online.) ined reforming them—and then running 2012-13, she sought out management Success students prepare intensively for mayor, an ambition she has put on advice, streamlined Success’s organiza- for state tests, participating in “Slam the hold. “It’s no secret that I have an interest tional structure, and resolved to be less Exam” rallies, earning incentives (such in political office,” she says. critical of herself and others. as “effort parties”) for improvement and Stymied after losing a 2005 race for She continues to be involved in virtu- extra help when they are struggling.
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