An opposing group driving school reform is the Coalition of Essential Schools, led by MacArthur grant genius Debbie Meier and Brown University Education Professor Theodore Sizer. Rather than content-based reform, they focus on teaching and critical thinking. The high school they opened in 1985, Central Park East, became the beacon of the reform movement. You may unwittingly shut off a great talent that hasn't emerged yet. But it seems picayune to fault theme schools on theoretical grounds given their record so far.
Themes keep students in school, if only because they decide to be there.
With the new school choice program, kids can apply to any city school, and then are selected via lottery or interview. With class sizes pushing forty and horror stories of teachers using bathrooms for extra space, it's no surprise that children are falling through the cracks. El Puente is a particularly striking success story. In the local Eastern District High School, a meager 12 percent of students graduated. While El Puente is only in its second year, its students are bound to fare better.