GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Philissa and I will take a spring break along with the public schools starting tomorrow. Ours will involve a week of learning about the latest education research in San Diego, thanks to generous support from the Hechinger Institute.

Meanwhile, please stay tuned to our community section. If anything earth-shattering happens, we’ll post in the newsroom. Otherwise, we’ll be back April 20th, smarter and with a tan. And maybe then we can convince the doubters that we really do not have “an agenda,” besides good journalism.

• Steve Koss analyzes turnout for parent council elections and declares the results pathetic.
• Trying to trace stimulus money, Michelle McNeil finds all levels of gov’t fail “the transparency test.”
• Peter Murphy takes on Jonathan Gyurko’s analysis of charter school funding.
• Childhood poverty creates stress, which impairs memory, a study finds. (Via Joanne Jacobs.)
• Debating what makes a good school: Academic rigor versus hands-on experience?
• A 21st century writing expert says writing is “newly technologized, socialized and networked.”
• There’s concern that stimulus funds might not get sent equally to charter schools.
• An update to that North Carolina Teach For America study: Add more teachers and TFA still does better.
• Some fan mail, and some concerns that GothamSchools has an agenda. Comments?
• And: Arne Duncan introduced Neko Case, indie rocker, at the 9:30 club in D.C. last night. Video: