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Year in Review: The 16 Most Interesting Interviews With Education Leaders We Published This Year

By Steve Snyder | December 26, 2016

Photo: Getty Images
Every week or so, we publish a new 74 interview with one of America’s top educators, education experts, researchers, policy makers or advocates. You can see the full archive here.
Below is a roundup of the 16 most revealing, surprising and insightful sit-downs from the past year. Consider these your longreads for the quiet New Year’s weekend.

Hope you enjoy these voices; to get updates on new interviews as they publish, sign up for our newsletter. See you in 2017!

 

 

Arne Duncan: The former secretary of education grades himself — and sees failures on pre-k, safety, desegregation.
Ruby Takanishi: The early education expert on why K-12 doesn’t work for kids without pre-k.
Andre Agassi: The former tennis great on his commitment to building great schools, and the 69 charters he’s launched thus far.
John Deasy: The former Los Angeles superintendent on his new initiative to rethink juvenile prisons.
Susan Dynarski: The University of Michigan economist on Boston charter schools, student poverty and using data to inform education policy.
Jeb Bush: The former governor of Florida and long-time education advocate on school choice and high standards.
Antonio Villaraigosa: The former mayor of Los Angeles talks charter expansion across Southern California and his candidacy for governor.
Lamar Alexander: The Tennessee senator on keeping the Every Student Succeeds Act from becoming the next Obamacare.
Nate Bowling: Washington’s teacher of the year on the surprising reaction to his “Conversation I’m Tired of Not Having” essay.
Jim Ryan: The dean of the Harvard Education School on school funding, the Vergara case and the value of education research.
DeRay Mckesson: The Black Lives Matter leader on racial injustice and educational opportunity.
Matt Delmont: The Arizona State University professor on how Northern whites used busing to derail American school integration.
Myrna Castrejon: The Los Angeles education advocate on building great schools for California’s poorest kids.
David Seeley: The former assistant U.S. assistant education commission (under Lyndon Johnson) on race, reform and saving schools.
Chris Emdin: The Columbia University professor on classroom myths and addressing the “white teachers in the hood.”
John White: Louisiana’s schools chief on the Every Student Succeeds Act, school closures and returning local control to New Orleans parents.
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