Who really deserved to win the Broad prize?

According to the just-released NAEP results, the city that really deserved to win the Broad prize as most improved urban school district in the country was not NYC, but Atlanta; however, lacking the Mayor’s political connections, supportive editorials in major newspapers, and well-heeled PR department, it wasn’t even nominated.

In fact, Atlanta was the only urban school district that has seen a consistent upward trend in all subjects tested by the NAEP--4th and 8th grade reading and 4th and 8th grade math--since 2002/2003, unlike NYC. Coming in a close second? Washington DC, which saw consistent gains in all subjects and years since 2003, except 8th grade reading, though it did make significant increases in even 8th grade reading since 2005.

Not only was the DC school system not nominated for the Broad award, though; its superintendent was fired and its governance system changed over to Mayoral control. Why?

To emulate the well-publicized, if illusory successes of the school system here in NYC.