Education Writers Association

I gave a talk at the Education Writers Association conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, and two reporter/bloggers wrote about it. According to Primateyell:

Tough has some worries about cloning the Zone, including that local nonprofits may lack the strict accountability that characterized Canada and his programs, but he sounded largely excited about seeing the plan go forward in an era when big questions such as what makes a good teacher are dominating the education debate.

And Lauren Roth wrote:

Tough realized what essential question his story would be organized around, he told EWA members: “Why is it that poor kids do so badly in school and life? And what can be done?” He said that the debates about education and poverty are beginning to merge, and for the better.

WAMU audio

is now up. My interview starts at about 30:00.

Kojo Nnamdi Show

Tomorrow at about 12:30 pm, I’ll be on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU public radio in Washington, D.C., talking about Barack Obama’s urban-policy plans and the Harlem Children’s Zone.

Jay Mathews Review

Jay Mathews, education columnist for the Washington Post, reviews “Whatever It Takes”:

Paul Tough has devoted several years to writing about poverty, but much of the time he is really writing about schools. This is apparent in his insightful book “Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America.” You don’t see the words “schools” or “education” in the title, but be assured this is one of the best books ever written about how poverty influences learning, and vice versa.

Washington Post Best Books

Whatever It Takes makes the Washington Post’s “Best Books of 2008” list.

Center for American Progress event

Discussing Whatever It Takes and the Harlem Children’s Zone with (from left) Robert Gordon, Roland Fryer and Geoffrey Canada at the Center for American Progress, Washington D.C., October 23, 2008.

Center for American Progress

Geoffrey Canada, Roland Fryer and I will be speaking at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., next Thursday, October 23, on a panel moderated by Robert Gordon. According to the announcement:

Policymakers have long talked about the lessons of HCZ for anti-poverty policy nationwide, and now there are proposals to replicate the HCZ model nationally. This panel brings together Geoffrey Canada, HCZ’s President and Chief Executive Officer; Roland Fryer, a Harvard economics professor and the founder of Harvard’s new Education Innovation Laboratory, a major effort to identify and evaluate promising approaches to closing the achievement gap; and Paul Tough, a New York Times Magazine editor and the author of the new book, Whatever It Takes, a critically acclaimed look at HCZ in the broader context of American poverty and education policy. They will talk about HCZ’s experience to date and its implications for national policy.

Washington Post Review

Donna Foote reviewed Whatever It Takes in the Washington Post Book World yesterday, describing the Harlem Children’s Zone as “a social experiment so radical and potentially transforming that Barack Obama has promised a ‘few billion dollars a year’ to replicate it in 20 cities should he become president.”

She called the book “a you-are-there recording of the project’s development, amazing growth and potential promise — and an informed primer on the correlation between race, poverty and the achievement gap in America.”