Media: Reactions To The Times Charter School Story

What did others think of the NYT charter school story from earlier in the week? Claus Von Zastrow (Sharing the Limelight) thought it was balanced and thoughtful -- a first for the Times. Matt Yglesias (Variance in School Quality) thought it was unfair to charter proponents.  Dana Goldstein (Hit on the Charter Movement) lays claim to many of the Times' observations about charters. Eduwonk (Charters I) says it's a rehash of the conventional wisdom and - hilariously - claims that CMO scalability arguments are overplayed.  Apt 11D (Charter Schools as a Petri Dish) does it best:  "I'm not really sure why this was a front page story in the New York Times." 

Comments

[Claus]

Two quick points:
1.) I didn't mean to suggest that this reporting on charters was the first time the NYT has done thoughtful reporting on education. That isn't true.

2.) While it's true that almost everything in the story is old hat to people who follow education or charters, it's not old hat to all readers of the NYT. A lot of reporting on charters has presented them either as miracle cures (Newsweek, Time, CBS, and The Economist) or fly-by-night operations run by charlatans. The NYT piece, by contrast, laid out some of the big issues & questions for a lay audience. It may have been inappropriate for EdWeek, but it was fine for the Times.