Larry Leverett, former school district superintendent
Dr. Larry Leverett recently retired as a school district superintendent. His career in education has included urban and suburban experiences as a classroom teacher, an elementary school principal, an assistant superintendent, a school board member, and assistant state commissioner of education, as well as service as a school superintendent over the course of fifteen years in three school districts. Leverett serves on advisory committees for The George Lucas Educational Foundation, Harvard University's Urban Superintendents Program, and the Laura Bush Foundation for School Libraries. He is committed to social justice and ensuring that all children have access to a high-quality educational experience in public schools. He currently is executive director of the Panasonic Foundation.
Subscribe to this blogger's RSS feedAre Teacher Unions the Problem?: A Clear Look at a Cloudy Issue
By Larry Leverett
11/1/06
Scapegoating teacher unions for the failures of public education system is a favorite pastime of critics who view the organizations as major obstacles to creating the conditions necessary to promulgate change and innovation in America's schools.
Reaching Performance Parity: A Shared Reality About the Achievement Gap
By Larry Leverett
9/11/06It is a mistake to assume that all members of the school community understand the nature of the achievement gap challenge. Getting stakeholders focused on the achievement gap is a challenge regardless of the demographic profile of a school, district, or community.
Closing the Achievement Gap: "All Children Can Learn"
By Larry Leverett
9/5/06"How many effective schools would you have to see to be persuaded of the educability of poor children? If your answer is more than one, then I submit that you have reasons of your own for preferring to believe that pupil performance derives from family background instead of school response to family background. We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven't so far." -- Ronald Edmonds, Harvard University
