I am always suspicious of the formulation that "politics" has prevented a great idea from being enacted by government. Politics IS government, in a democratic society. It's a challenge for school reformers, like reformers in any realm, to build a… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
I am not against standardized tests. There are tests and tests and tests, and, to simplify, the ones I favor are criterion-referenced tests of… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
Profound question is how do you measure the non-skills component of what goes on in schools: values, curiosity, critical thinking, and so on. That's… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
One of the most consistent findings about low performing schools and students is that "home variables" (parental income and education, etc.) are more predictive… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
I am always suspicious of the formulation that "politics" has prevented a great idea from being enacted by government. Politics IS government, in a… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
You can't create a successful politics of support for public education on the basis of asking voters not to care about skills, and tests… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
In journalism, especially, we tend to deal with large, complex systems by finding especially interesting people and story lines to focus on. — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
I think serious research tends to be associated with higher academic quality, more prestige, more resources, and even, heaven help us, better teaching, to… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
In the current environment, attributing low student performance to teacher tenure is one of the great unproven causal links out there. The relationship just… — Nicholas Lemann Copy Share Image
