Rebell Heads New TC Campaign
Public education advocate Michael Rebell was appointed head of a Teachers College campaign created to bring education research out of the ivory tower and into the cityóó-'ó-'ós public schools.
Last June, Rebell was appointed as director of Teachers College Campaign for Educational Equity, a new organization created to coordinate and encourage academic research on educational equity, make research findings more accessible to policy-makers and educators, and organize real-world tests of research in city schools.
"The idea is to be part think tank and part action arm," said Margaret Crocco, associate professor of Social Studies and Education. "It's not just a matter of thinking about the problems. There has to be an effort to make change."
For the last 12 years, Rebell has served as executive director of The Campaign for Fiscal Equity, a non-profit organization that successfully sued New York state for more than 15 billion dollars for failing to provide the city's public school students with a "sound basic education," as required by the state's constitution.
"I'm taking on this new role because we have won the first half of this battle [the lawsuit against New York state], and now we've got to actually begin the process of improving our schools," he said in a statement on the Teachers College Web site.
"He understands the importance of research as a way of making progress on policy issues and he knows how to engage on very high levels with policy-makers," said Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College.
This article, written by Risheen Maheswaran, appeared in the September 27th, 2005 publication of the Columbia Spectator.
Published Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005