In the past decade, Barr has opened seventeen charter high schools—small,
locally managed institutions that aim for a high degree of teacher autonomy
and parent involvement—in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, as well as one in the Bronx.
Full Story »
It's rare we see a profile of people doing things for education that's as raw and detailed as this one. Most crop up in academic journals and trade publications and tend not to include extensive interviewing and firsthand reporting. This is a very readable, effective narrative, if slightly formulaic. New Yorker looks in-depth at the person (people) behind the programming.
It gets tiresome to praise the New Yorker on this site as often as we do, but it's pieces like this that give it the reputation it deserves. The magazine intellectualizes issues, people, events like few other publications do, and for that (and other reasons) it's among our most trusted sources.