A Cautionary Tale of Charter School Right-Think

Steven Wilson would seem to be the very model of a thoughtful, progressive 21st century education reformer. He's also a cautionary tale. In 2007, after more than a decade working in charter schools, writing about them, and teaching about them at Harvard, he opened the first Ascend charter school in Brooklyn. Today, the Ascend network consists of 15 schools, serving 5,000 predominantly low-income and minority children in New York City. Ascend's record is stellar, with achievement gaps closing and proficiency standards met, and this pedagogic magic is worked in exceptionally nice facilities, not the shared buildings used by so many Gotham charters. Wilson and company have done all this without big philanthropy, without profiteering, and without scandal.