Urban Scholar Brent Reckman

Brent Reckman knows that educating all our children is an important job. "Making sure we do it the right way is one of our best hopes for a more just and equitable future," the elementary school teacher says. "I chose a career in education so I could be a part of that effort." As an Urban Scholar, Reckman feels more motivated to focus on his studies and the issues confronting urban schools.

Why did you choose HGSE?
I chose HGSE because I wanted to be exposed to cutting-edge research and practice. I wanted to be a part of a major driver for change in the world of education.

What are your thoughts on teaching in an urban school today?
This country is increasingly becoming a metro-nation. A growing majority of our population is living in cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas. In a big way, solving the current education crisis means confronting issues in urban schools. Good teachers are needed everywhere, but policies and practices in urban schools will be under the spotlight more than anywhere else. How we choose to take advantage of that attention will have major implications for the future of education.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about urban schools?
The biggest misconception about urban schools is that all urban schools can be characterized in one way. Trying to describe all urban schools in one sentence is about as helpful as trying to describe all Bostonians in one sentence. Well, they're all from Boston. That's not going to help us teach them effectively, is it?

If you could change anything in education today, what would it be and why?
I'll feebly try to answer that huge question briefly. I'd eliminate the achievement gap because its existence is the biggest condemnation of modern society there is, short of genocide.