Director of documentary, "Turnaround." Author of Reinventing America's Schools, Reinventing Government & others. Formerly of Progressive Policy Institute.
Gloucester, MA
Joined May 2011
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Looking for a good podcast on education? Interested in learning about the city that has improved its public schools faster than any other over the past two decades? Check out Clay Jenkinson's most recent "Listening to America" podcast, at jeffersonhour.libsyn.com/171…, or wherever you get your podcasts. Clay and I had a great discussion.
"Turnaround: The Reinvention of New Orleans' Public Education System," will screen at the San Antonio Film Festival on July 24 at 12:30 pm, at the Radius Center. If you can't get there, you can find it on Kinema.com. Learn how the nation's fastest improving city over the past 20 years has done it--profound lessons for other cities.
relaytix.com/event/turnaroun…
Our documentary, "Turnaround: The Reinvention of New Orleans' Public Education System," will screen at the San Antonio Film Festival in late July. One argument why you should see it, either there or on Kinema.com:
From Jonathan Alter, former editor at Newsweek and author of bestselling books on Obama, Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Trump: "Amid so much depressing news in the world, it's inspiring to learn from this fine film about the astonishing and consistent improvement of New Orleans schools, both before Covid and after. The challenge for other urban districts is to do the same without a hurricane--to find the moral equivalent of Katrina."
20 years ago, 50% of New Orleans students dropped out. Today, more than 80% graduate high school.
20 years ago, 37% of the 50% who graduated went on to college. Today, 60% do.
After COVID, New Orleans was the first high-poverty city to experience full recovery of test scores by 2024.
Sure, an ideologue like Diane Ravitch calls that failure. But people should decide for themselves, based on real data.
School privatization = more failure.
Twenty years after Katrina, the city’s all-charter schools system is failing many families
nationofchange.org/2025/10/0…
There Was No “Miracle” in New Orleans
dianeravitch.net/2025/09/02/…
David Osborne retweeted
Ross Ulbricht built one of the largest anonymous drug marketplaces in internet history, where people bought fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. People died using drugs purchased through it, and federal prosecutors called it the most sophisticated criminal marketplace the internet had ever seen. He was serving two life sentences for it.
On day two of his presidency, Trump pardoned him. Then he went online and called the prosecutors who put him there scum.
Welcome to Episode 8 of the Pardon Powers.
The presidential pardon was designed as a last resort, a tool of mercy for when the justice system genuinely gets something wrong. It was never meant for this. That’s why I'm pushing for a constitutional amendment to put real limits on this power, for this president and everyone that follows.
David Osborne retweeted
President Trump fired 19 inspectors general whose job was to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. At the same time, he’s pardoned convicted fraudsters.
Why does this administration keep protecting criminals instead of protecting you?
David Osborne retweeted
The irony of Republicans controlling all branches of government while
bankrupting the country, starting a war, sending money to fraudulent programs, violating the Constitution, giving corporations immunity...
but arguing that the biggest problem we have is “stolen elections.”
If you're headed to New Orleans for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools conference next week, you can't get a better introduction to the city's historic conversion to an all-charter district, which led to the most rapid improvement in the nation, than to watch our documentary, "Turnaround: The Reinvention of New Orleans' Public Education System."
The 90-minute film will show at 1:30 pm on the Learning Lab Stage in the convention center Exhibit Hall. Also on Kinema.com
Depends on your state. In MA, NJ, DC, Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio, NY, and many other states, charter school authorizers have done an excellent job. Too bad district-operated schools don't face the same scrutiny and accountability. They can fail their students year after year, decade after decade, with no consequences.
Charter school authorizers have a long history of not doing their job. They rubber stamp many charter school applications. And waiting list numbers are notoriously unreliable (then & now):
nepc.colorado.edu/publicatio…
Some families do, some don't. Millions are on waiting lists for charter schools--largely thanks to caps on charter numbers, driven by you and your friends. As for "cherry-picking" students, it's illegal. If it happens, the charter authorizer is falling down on the job. But many districts cherry pick as a matter of routine: you have to be able to afford to live in their district to attend their schools.
Or maybe families see charter schools as inferior to public schools.
Not to mention that "free" charter schools routinely cherry-pick students:
School’s Choice: How Charter Schools Control Access and Shape Enrollment
amazon.com/Schools-Choice-Ch…
David Osborne retweeted
Utah, Senator Lee's state, completed a comprehensive voter examination. Of two million voters, one noncitizen registered to vote and NO noncitizen voted.
The SAVE Act is traditional Republican nonsense and Mike Lee is an embarrassment to Utah.
David Osborne retweeted
Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.
Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.
And it will always be that way, because low-income people can't afford to add money to the voucher to pay tuition. ESAs will further stratify America by income--making education like any other market. The affluent will buy Mercedes schools, BMW schools, & Cadillac schools, the middle class will buy Toyota schools, Chevy schools, and Ford schools, and the poor will attend used-car schools.
The AP found that participation in high-income ZIP codes is nearly three times higher than in low-income neighborhoods for Empowerment Scholarships in Arizona. Just 4 percent of ESA users are in low-income zip codes.
apnews.com/projects/privatiz…
David Osborne retweeted
Parents did the math. 81% say a new White House ballroom is a BAD use of tax dollars. 85% say expanding tutoring for K-12 kids is a GOOD one. 79% want a bigger Child Tax Credit for working families. Fund classrooms, not ballrooms. Read more: tinyurl.com/yc8nnbat #ParentPower
David Osborne retweeted
So far, Emanuel hasn't gotten Dems to rally around a focus on education, but he's saying all the right things when it comes to what parents say they want.
Can Democrats win on education reform? alexanderrusso.substack.com/…
David Osborne retweeted
The Trump administration is pulling a working $368 million ocean monitoring system out of the water.
Equipment taxpayers already bought and paid for, removed right as record temperatures and a possible collapse of Atlantic currents have scientists alarmed. There is no savings analysis. The gear is already paid for. And the same people killing the monitors want to mine the deep sea, destroying the only tools that could measure the damage.
They are smashing the gauges while the engine is on fire. You cannot see the damage if you break the instruments first.
David Osborne retweeted
When we win, the first bill I’m filing is a comprehensive anti-corruption package:
Overturn Citizens United
Ban corporate PACs and super PACs
Ban members of Congress from trading stocks
Once we defeat the most corrupt politician in America, we can defeat this corrupt system.
We hear from teachers unions and their friends, who so often criticize charter schools and other forms of school choice, that public schools--unlike their rivals--have to "accept all comers." But it's a lie. fordhaminstitute.org/ohio/co…
If you're headed to New Orleans for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools conference next week, you can't get a better introduction to the city's historic conversion to an all-charter district, which led to the most rapid improvement in the nation, than to watch our documentary, "Turnaround: The Reinvention of New Orleans' Public Education System."
The 90-minute film will show at 1:30 pm on the Learning Lab Stage in the convention center Exhibit Hall. I hope to see you there!
"Indiana’s charter school students have experienced greater academic growth in the years following the pandemic than their peers in traditional public schools, according to a new preliminary analysis.
The study from eight researchers posted through Brown University’s Annenberg Institute also found that the gains were particularly pronounced for Black and Hispanic students, and for those who were among the lowest-performing and economically disadvantaged."
chalkbeat.org/indiana/2026/0…
