Eva Moskowitz is the founder and CEO of Success Academy, the largest charter school network in New York City. Her school has produced positive academic outcomes and has won a Broad Prize this year for its successes in closing race- and income-based achievement gaps, The Atlantic reports.
Yet she is no stranger to criticism, with many public school teachers calling her “Evil Moskowitz.”
Though Moskowitz may be used to all the flak, she is not unfazed by it. Her new book, The Education of Eva Moskowitz, dedicates a good amount of space to analyzing and defending herself against the labels put on her. She says that the bad impression she seems to leave goes against who she believes she is as a person, but that she is willing to make sacrifices when it comes to New York City’s neediest children, writes The Atlantic.
The memoir offers an intimate look into the high-profile education reformer. Moskowitz discusses the challenges she faced trying to start Success in the first place, including a rivalry with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The Atlantic’s Alia Wong sat down with Moskowitz to discuss the memoir and her fight to change the education system. During the interview, she talked about being a student at Stuyvesant, which is currently one of the most prestigious and respected public high schools in New York City. But Moskowitz said when she went, “French teachers who didn’t know French. Teachers got there by seniority. … It was pretty bureaucratic. It was not inspiring, even though the kids were very inspiring. And it was a little bit of a rat race—you had to do everything yourself.”
Learn more about charter school history from civil rights icon and education reformer Wyatt Tee Walker, who sat down with RealClearLife for an exclusive interview.
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