PURE friend Leonie Haimson, director of Class Size Matters in NYC, is one of the authors of a new book,

NYC Schools Under Bloomberg/Klein: What Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know

a collection of essays from folks on the ground in New York. Here's what they conclude:

"Educators, parents, and scholars challenge the Bloomberg administration’s claims of progress in the New York City public schools. Seventeen writers argue that under Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein NYC schools have stagnated or lost ground in achievement, class size, curriculum and instruction, overcrowding, transparency, and equity."

Sound familiar? Sound kind of like the results from "Chicago School Reform: Lessons for the Nation" which PURE and FairTest wrote in 2007.

So, how does Fed Ed Head Arne Duncan get away with demanding that districts move to mayoral control in order to get federal money? Does he want schools to fail? 

The NYC book is available for free download here.