Lessons of Hope

An unconventional choice as Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Joel Klein shook up a failed and stagnant educational system and replaced it with new initiatives that radically improved schools. As a lawyer and businessman, Klein applied lessons learned working in the private sector as well as the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House to find aggressive new approaches to improving the way we educate our kids. Challenging unions, bureaucrats, and politicians, he held New York’s schools, principals, and teachers accountable as never before, and spearheaded the opening of several hundred new public schools and more than a hundred charter schools that redefined the schooling options for the city’s youth.

In Lessons of Hope (Harper; November 4, 2014; $27.99), Klein chronicles his eight year crusade as chancellor, detailing the unprecedented reform he oversaw.  He tells the riveting stories behind the reforms, bringing to life the various players that were key to the policies he pushed and those who fought hard against them.  The scope of the change he instituted was breathtaking, beginning with empowering principals – previously among the weakest link in the system – and then holding them accountable for progress at their schools, closing scores of failing schools over howls of protest, opening hundreds of new schools to finally provide choices for families, especially in high-needs communities, and stimulating new, innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

Although controversial, the media and academic researchers ultimately hailed his work in New York as establishing a national model that got real improvements for students.  Under his and Bloomberg’s leadership, New York won the prestigious Broad Prize for the most improved urban school district.  Robert Schwartz, academic dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, called Klein’s efforts “the most dramatic and thoughtful set of large scale reforms going on anywhere in the country.”  The Economist observed that NYC had become “a laboratory for school reform,” and John Merrow of PBS called Klein “the person most responsible for shaping U.S. schools today.”

Building on the success of New York City schools, Lessons of Hope looks to the future of education across the United States. “America is at a crossroad,” Klein writes. “Despite decades of trying to improve ours schools—and more than doubling the financial outlay earmarked for them—only slightly more than a third of our students are being well educated.” Those hardest hit—economically and socially challenged kids—need not be left behind, Klein says. Safety-net and support programs, though important, can never do what a good education can for disadvantaged children, he asserts. The success story Klein engineered in New York has lessons to teach schools across the country. We can continue to hope that more money will make small, incremental fixes, or we can push for a fundamental restructuring that will create an American educational system that can compete globally in the 21st century. Such a restructuring would include increasing school choice across the spectrum of public education, making teaching a true profession (rather than a trade union), and using technology to change the way teachers teach and kids learn.

Himself the product of the New York City public schools, Joel Klein is the CEO of Amplify, News Corp.’s education division, which is reimagining the way teachers teach and students learn in our digital age. Prior to serving as chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, he served as chairman and CEO of the U.S. arm of the global media company, Bertelsmann. He was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and Deputy White House Counsel to President Clinton. Klein graduated magna cum laude from Columbia and earned his J.D., also magna cum laude, from Harvard. Among his many honors, he received The Alexander Hamilton Award, Columbia College’s highest recognition,  was selected by Time as one of “Ten People Who Mattered” in 1999, and by U.S. News and World Report as “One of America’s 20 Best Leaders.”  He has received eleven honorary degrees, including from Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke and Amherst.

Lessons of Hope offers an invaluable blueprint for change and is essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of America. I hope you will plan prominent attention and I look forward to talking with you about the possibilities.