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Linda Perlstein

Linda Perlstein is the public editor for the Education Writers Association and the author of Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade. She writes the Educated Reporter blog.

Recent Articles

The Divide Over Education

As Obama touts his overhaul of the No Child Left Behind Act, progressive reformers are divided between those who think you can close the achievement gap just by focusing on schools -- and those who don't.

Linda PerlsteinMar 05, 2011

Kids First: Five Big Ideas for Transforming Children's Lives and America's Future, David L. Kirp, PublicAffairs, 270 pages, $24.99

A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn't in Providing an Excellent Education for All, Wendy Kopp with Steven Farr, PublicAffairs, 229 pages, $25.99

During the last five years the policy debate over our nation's schools, and therefore our nation's children, has come to this: You either believe that the lag in educational achievement among poor, minority kids cannot be overcome until poverty and other social troubles are addressed, or you believe that blaming the achievement gap on those problems is unacceptable and the schools are, in fact, the best place to break the cycle of poverty.