The Diverse Schools Dilemma on the air and on the net

yes Pamela Tatz / December 10, 2012

Modern urban parents face a quandary: Will the public schools in their walkable, socioeconomically diverse communities provide a strong education for their kids? Mike Petrilli shed light on this question in his book, The Diverse Schools Dilemma. Here’s a roundup of recent and forthcoming media attention that Petrilli’s book has garnered.

Reviews and articles

In his second review of the Diverse Schools Dilemma (you can read the first here),  the Washington Post’s Jay Mathews expounds on Petrilli’s insights into parenting-style variance: “If middle class and low-income parents have different methods with their kids and different expectations for their schools, how do principals and teachers serve both populations?” (11/29/12)

Rick Hess, writing for his Education Week blog Straight Up, calls Petrilli a “model of perpetual angst himself when it comes to [choosing schools for his kids]” and the book a terrific blend of “personal anecdotes, surprising evidence, and conversations with researchers and parents.” (12/7/12)

Mike Petrilli was quoted in a New York Post article on the school boundary controversy raging in Brooklyn’s Park Slope: “He says upper-class parents ‘like racial diversity because they want their kids to be comfortable in a multiracial society, but they are not excited about socioeconomic diversity’ because it will start to affect the quality of the education.” (12/6/12)

The Diverse Schools Dilemma is featured in an American RadioWorks podcast. (12/7/12)

Take Part profiles Mike Petrilli’s five tips on how to pick a diverse school. For example, tip number three reads, “Visit the schools on your list. In a socioeconomically diverse school, ask to meet with the principal. Ask some tough questions, like ‘How do you handle academic diversity if kids are coming in with prior experience and higher achievement levels?’” (11/29/12)

Diverse Schools Dilemma earns another feature in the Minnesota Post: “Petrilli kept his policy-wonk hat on while he went in search of a school for his kids, a journey he chronicles in the brand-new, commendably readable The Diverse Schools Dilemma: A Parent’s Guide to Socioeconomically Mixed Public Schools. (11/26/12)

Upcoming radio appearances

On Tuesday (December 11), you can catch him on the “Radio Times” show on WHYY (National Public Radio–Philadelphia) from 10 to 11 p.m. Listen live here >>>>

On Wednesday (December 12), he will appear on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU (National Public Radio–Washington, D.C.) from 1 to 2 p.m. Listen live here >>>>

Category: Additional Topics / Charters & Choice