Assessing New York's Commissioner of Education

Overview & Synopsis

In this article, the author talks about the resignation of New York State's commissioner of education David Steiner, and how it will affect the state's Race to the Top. He contends that Steiner was savvy enough to understand the importance of Race to the Top and able enough to turn the state's education energies toward it. The "Washington Post" said that the program "helped transform the national discussion on education." Once the shining star of the American public education system, New York has of late come to represent all that is wrong with American education. Under Steiner's direction New York had set some bold goals for 2013. Yet, it bothered him that the state might not make these goals. This is what rattled New Yorkers when they heard Steiner was leaving. The author stresses that Steiner had a surprising success turning the education bureaucracy around. Finding the person who can steer it through a radically changed landscape will be New York's next challenge.