Contributor Biographies

Christina Asquith, What I Wish I Had Know as an Education Reporter

Christina Asquith is a journalist and teacher. Her book, “Emergency Teacher: The Inspirational Story of a New Teacher in an Inner-City School,’’ was published by Skyhorse Publishing in 2007. Her articles on education have been published in The New York Times, The Economist, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Christina spent 18 months working and traveling in Iraq, where she wrote about the rebuilding of higher education. She has co-authored articles with Dr. Harry Wong, author of the bestselling teacher guide: “The First Days of School.” She has a BA from Boston University and a Masters in educational philosophy and policy from The London School of Economics. She currently lives in Washington D.C.

Karin Chenoweth, How to Spot a School That Cheats and Find the Real Deal

Karin Chenoweth is a long-time education writer now with The Achievement Alliance. From 1999 to 2004 she wrote a column on schools and education for The Washington Post, and before that was senior writer and executive editor of Black Issues in Higher Education (now Diverse). In 2004, Karin took on a challenging assignment: find and write about neighborhood public schools that “demonstrate that all children can learn.” The results have been published in “It’s Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools,” by Harvard Education Press.

Richard Lee Colvin, The Six Essential Elements of Good Teaching

Richard Lee Colvin is the Director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University. He joined the Institute in 2002 after many years writing about education for newspapers in California, including the Los Angeles Times, where he was the lead education writer. Before that he worked for the Oakland Tribune, the Hayward Daily Review and the Associated Press. He has a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Michigan. He has been a media fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and in 2000 won a Knight-Wallace fellowship for mid-career journalists at the University of Michigan. He became director of the Institute in May 2003.

Jenny DeMonte, Cut to the Heart of Learning by Analyzing a Classroom

Jenny DeMonte is a doctoral candidate in educational studies at the University of Michigan, studying education policy and instruction, and is a researcher for The Study of Instructional Improvement. She also works on two committees that are redesigning teacher education courses to make them more effective at highlighting teacher practice. DeMonte was a journalist for nearly 15 years and worked at several newspapers including the Hartford Courant in Connecticut and the Bergen Record in New Jersey. From 1993 to 1999, she was editor-in-chief of New Jersey Monthly magazine, and instituted an annual feature that rated the state’s public high schools.

Samuel G. Freedman, To Witness the Magic of Learning, Find a Classroom

Samuel G. Freedman is an award-winning author, columnist, and professor of journalism at Columbia University. A columnist for The New York Times he is the author of six acclaimed books, most recently Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life (2005) and Letters To A Young Journalist (2006). His previous books included Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students and Their High School (1990).  Freedman was a staff reporter for The New York Times from 1981 through 1987 and currently writes the column “On Education,” as well as frequent articles on culture. His education columns for the The Times won first prize in the Education Writers Association’s annual competition.

Jay Mathews, Talk to Students for an Inside Look at High School Life

Jay Mathews is an education reporter and online columnist who has been with the Washington Post for 36 years.  He has reported from China and California, covered the stock market in New York, and written books on subjects ranging from China to disability rights and Los Angeles math teacher Jaime Escalante. Mathews’ fourth book, Class Struggle: What’s Wrong (and Right) with America’s Best Public High Schools, was published by Times Books in March 1998. His 2003 book on college admissions, Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College that is Best for You, is published by Three Rivers Press. His most recent book, Supertest: How the International Baccalaureate Can Strengthen Our Schools, co-authored with Ian Hill, has just been published. Mathews’ book on the success of the KIPP schools in low-income neighborhoods throughout the country will be published in 2008.

Dale Mezzacappa, How to Get Gun-Shy Schools to Open Their Doors; Good Reporting Places Education Wars in Context

Dale Mezzacappa is an award-winning journalist who covered education at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 20 years. Dale left the paper in 2006 and now teaches the journalism workshop at Swarthmore College. She’s also an independent writer and consultant for non-profit organizations, after-school programs, and other groups, and maintains a special interest in issues involving education and journalism.

Mike Rose, To Write About Teaching, Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open

Mike Rose is a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He teaches courses in research methods, writing for professional audiences, risk and academic underpreparation, and language and literacy. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award in Education, and awards from the Spencer Foundation, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Modern Language Association, and the American Educational Research Association. His books include Lives on the Boundary: the Struggles and Achievements of America’s Underprepared, Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America, and The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker.