Outstanding Educators  of the month:

April 2, 2003 – Dr. Leon Botstein, President of Bard College

Dr. Leon Botstein’s remarks reflected his familiar themes, which recount the failures of American education in relating learning to authentic situations, and the significant amounts of time wasted on non-essential tasks. Included in the discussion were remarks about the Bard High School Model, which is based on experiential learning, individualized learning plans and substantially shorter periods of time to complete the high school program.

Leon Botstein has been President of Bard College since 1975. He is also the Leon Levy Professor in Arts and Humanities at Bard. He received his B.A. degree with special honors in history from the University of Chicago and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in European history from Harvard as well as several honorary degrees. He was named National Arts Club Gold Medal recipient in 1995,and in 1996 he was awarded the Centennial Medal of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Botstein formerly served as president of Franconia College, lecturer in history at Boston University and special assistant to the president of the New York City Board of Education. He is past chairman of the Harper’s Magazine Foundation and of the New York Council for the Humanities, a member of the National Advisory Committee for the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute and a member of the board of Central European University and of numerous other boards and professional associations.

Leon Botstein is music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, as well as co-artistic director of the Bard Music Festival and artistic director of the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra. In addition to conducting the ASO’s subscription concert series at Lincoln Center, Dr. Botstein also has an active international career, making frequent guest appearances with major orchestras around the world.

Dr. Botstein has published over 100 articles and reviews in leading newspapers and journals on such diverse topics as music, education, history and culture. His most recent book in education: Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture was written in 1997 and published by Doubleday.

April 9, 2003 – Alfie Kohn, Educational Consultant

Alfie Kohn spoke about the evils of standardized testing and how standards have actually been lowered as a result of the current national testing patterns. He also related as to how teachers might mobilize to bring about genuine assessments, which are individualized, comprehensive and on going.

Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on education and human behavior.  He was recently described by Time as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grade and test scores.”  Apart from his regular contributions to the leading publications for educators, he has recently written about standards and testing—or has been profiled by – the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe.  His articles on other topics have appeared in periodicals ranging from the Nation to the Harvard Business Review.

Kohn’s previous books include Punished by Rewards (1993) and No Contest: The Case Against Competition (1986), as well as several titles for educators:  Beyond Discipline:  From Compliance to Community (1996), which he describes as a “modest attempt to overthrow the entire field of classroom management,” and What to Look for in a Classroom…and Other Essays (1998), a collection of his articles about education.  His books have been translated into Japanese, Korean, German, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew and Italian.

Kohn has been featured on many TV and radio programs, including two appearances on Oprah. He lectures widely at universities and to school faculties and parent groups, and is often a keynote speaker at education conferences.

April 30, 2003 – Dr. Peter Cookson, Jr., President of Teachers College Innovations

Dr. Peter Cookson’ s lecture focused on the need for comprehensive reform in New York City’s Public Schools and the significant contribution of the alternative certification programs in providing highly qualified and dedicated teachers in places that would otherwise be neglected.

Dr. Cookson is president of Teachers College Innovations and the Doris Dillon Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is also the founder of the Center for Educational Outreach & Innovation at Teachers College. An Associate Professor at the College, Dr. Cookson holds a Ph.D. in the Sociology of Education from New York University and has taught in public and private schools and has published widely in the areas of educational policy, reform, school choice, and most recently, the integration of technology into learning environments. Some of these titles are Preparing for Power: America’s Elite Boarding Schools, Exploring Education, Making Sense of Society, School Choice: The Struggle for the Soul of American Education; Choosing Schools: Vouchers and American Education (with Jerome Hanus); Expect Miracles: Charter Schools and the Politics of Hope and Despair (2002), a monograph, First Person Plural: A Manifesto for Public Education, and a book entitled, Educational Mismatch.