About me

I’ve been writing, podcasting and opining about the intersection of education and politics for more than a decade now. (Though some of my loved ones will insist that it has been much longer!) My interest in the politics of education began when I took a part time job editing the statewide newspaper for AFT Massachusetts. I went on to start a humorous blog chronicling the follies of the education reform movement. Along the way, that morphed into something more serious, and my strong opinions have now appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, the New Republic, the Baffler, and many other publications. I’ve also managed to produce three books: More Worlds to Negotiate, about former Secretary of Labor John Dunlop; A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and The Education Wars , both of which I wrote with education historian Jack Schneider.

These days I divide my time between podcasting, writing, and teaching in the Education Studies program at Yale and at a medium security prison in Massachusetts through the Boston College Prison Education Program. I’m also fortunate enough to get to travel around the country talking to groups about the threats to public education and how they fit into our broader political context. My specialty is a big picture talk that alternates between grim reality, whimsical humor, and plenty of inspiration. And when I’m not obsessing over public education, I’m enjoying life as a Midwestern transplant in Gloucester, Mass. Did you know that Gloucester is America’s oldest seaport??