Brookings Press Blog

'When Mayors Take Charge' editor discusses the NYC school system

Joseph Viteritti on the success and room for improvement of mayoral control over public schools

The ideas espoused within editor Joseph Viteritti’s When Mayors Take Charge: School Governance in the City offers an innovative solution to the problem of public school governance. The Teachers College Record, a journal of analysis and research published by Columbia University’s Teachers College, recently produced a video in which Viteritti went into greater detail about the claims found within the book. According to Viteritti, the advent of mayoral control over public schools has begun to gain popularity, but many cities must now judge whether those who have already taken the step have proven successful. Using New York’s public school system as a case study, Viteritti outlines in the video the findings of a study conducted in preparation for the state legislature’s June decision to either renew or eliminate the 2002 law that handed the city’s schools over to its mayor. Viteritti’s conclusions show that mayoral control, while effective, does require certain checks and balances on the mayor’s power and increased accountability between the mayor, schools, and citizens.

Joseph Viteritti is currently Blanche D. Blank Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College, CUNY and chairman of the Department of Public Affairs.

- Learn more about When Mayors Take Charge

What will America do without skilled workers?

The People Factor cited in the Federal Times

“A survey of federal agencies commissioned by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, discovered that between 1997 and 2000, federal agencies spent about 1.9 percent of their financial payroll on training, while the private sector spends 4 percent and leading organizations even more,” stated a recent article in the Federal Times. With the economic slowdown, there is heightened need for skilled workers in the United States, but with the continuous downsizing of even the wealthiest firms, companies are tempted to downsize their human resources also. But is this truly possible? What repercussions await a great country with workers of little skill? The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service, by former Commerce Department Assistant Secretary Linda Bilmes and W. Scott Gould, deputy secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, addresses the issue.

So what can America do to increase its number of skilled workers? The People Factor argues that the country cannot prosper without a strong, highly functioning federal work force to manage the government. Bilmes and Gould call for a $10 billion investment to improve recruiting, better training and enhanced management of the federal workforce predicting that the investment will yield $300-$600 billion in productivity gains.

In an age where human resources remain the most important factor for global growth, The People Factor urges the nation to invest in its greatest resource—public service.

- Get more information on The People Factor

- Learn about America’s “people factor” in the full article by Tim Kauffman of the Federal Times

A look into Africa: Robert Rothberg discusses governance and leadership

The principles of global governance, and what it means for the rest of us

In an interview with The Africa Group [pdf], Robert Rotberg underscores the importance of engaging developing regions such as Botswana, Ethiopia and Nigeria in the rising value of principles in the world order. Rotberg discusses the transformation of Africa and China, stating, “China will continue to have a profound influence in the development of Africa. Africa, however, needs to develop a multilateral, collective response to China’s involvement.” He adds that though Africa is not immune to the current global meltdown, there are still good opportunities in some sectors for African development. What this means is economic growth for Africa and for better relations between Africa and the rest of the world. But as China submerges itself into the African government, there is a chance that this evolving symbiosis will make Africa the poorest and most troubled continent, while it further powers China’s expansive economic machine.

In the book China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence, Rotberg and a team of renowned scholars tackle China’s interest in African oil, military and security relations, the influx and goals of Chinese aid to sub-Saharan Africa, human rights issues, and China’s overall strategy toward Africa. They outline Africa’s chance for poverty alleviation in the developing regions through a system that promises to do more than anything attempted by Western colonialism or international aid programs.

Rotberg further addresses the issue in his latest book, Corruption, Global Security, and World Order. In collaboration with a distinguished group of contributors, he discusses the global ramifications and implications of deeply embedded corruption in various nations.

Robert I. Rotberg is director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and president of the World Peace Foundation. Rotberg has authored and edited numerous books, on Africa and global governance including Worst of the Worst: Dealing with Repressive and Rogue Nations (Brookings & World Peace Foundation, 2007) and Ending Autocracy, Enabling Democracy: the Tribulations of Southern Africa 1960-2000 (World Peace Foundation, 2001).

- Learn more about China into Africa

- Learn more about Corruption, Global Security, and World Order

- Read the full interview with Mamao Mihretu of The Africa Group [pdf]

Now that the June 12 elections are over, how does the U.S. undertake relations with Iran?

Brookings author Suzanne Maloney reveals the key to U.S. strategy toward Iran

Global news headlines read “Iran vote Illegitimate,” “Sanctions on Iran” and “G8 'deplores' Iran poll violence” as the world grapples for better options to address the issues rising in the country. In a conference by United States Institute of Peace, Suzanne Maloney, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the book Which Path to Persia?, uncovers solutions that address the right path to resolve the issues in Iran. In the conference titled "Iran's Presidential Elections: Implications for US-Iranian Engagement." Maloney offers her ideas on how the U.S can aid Iranian democracy and development.

Maloney studies Iran, the political economy of the Persian Gulf and Middle East energy policy. A former U.S. State Department policy advisor, she has also counseled private companies on Middle East issues. Maloney has also published books on Iran and its role in the Middle East.

While the title of Which Path to Persia? asks the all-important question, its content tackles the issues and provides options for a new American strategy toward Iran. In the book, Maloney teams up with Ken Pollack, former Director for Persian Gulf affairs at the National Security Council; Dan Byman, Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Peace and Security Studies; Martin Indyk, acting vice president and director of Foreign Policy at Brookings; Michael O’Hanlon, senior author of the Iraq Index; and Bruce Riedel, senior advisor to three U.S. presidents on Middle East issues. Together, this team of experienced scholars offers the most important policy solutions available to the United States with regard to Iran and the Middle East.

- Learn more about Which Path to Persia?

- Read full details of the conference from an article by the National Iranian American Council

Brookings authors Benjamin Wittes and Martin Indyk in the news

Experts from the Brookings Institution give their opinion and get quizzed on global and national events

With the recent departure of American troops form Iraq, the topical Iranian elections and uprisings, and the ongoing Israel-Palestine state struggle, Brookings intellectuals Benjamin Wittes and Martin Indyk analyze Obama’s approach to addressing terrorism and the recent happenings in Iran, Iraq, Israel as well as the crises in the Middle East respectively.

In a Washington Post op-ed writted with Jack Goldsmith, Benjamin Wittes examines past presidencies and suggests the model the Obama administration can take to address new ground rules for a war on terror. His assessment: “Roosevelt's approach, not Bush-era unilateralism, should be President Obama's model.” In his forthcoming book, Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform, Wittes addresses the legal issues surrounding the struggle against terrorism.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, expounds on America’s role in Middle East affairs. With years of international experience as ambassador to Israel (April 1995-September 1997 and January 2000-July 2001) and recent books—Which Path to Persia? and Restoring the Balance—under his belt, Indyk offers his expertise on how President Obama can tackle the issues in the region stating, “Obama is determined. He understands that he has to be persistent, and that will require everybody else to change their calculations.”

Martin Indyk is acting vice president and director of Foreign Policy at The Brookings Institution, and Benjamin Wittes is currently a senior fellow of Governance Studies at Brookings and the contributing editor of The Atlantic.

- Learn more about the changing circulations in the Middle East from Indyk's books, Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran and Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President

- Read the Indyk's full interview with Ruthie Blum Leibowitz of The Jerusalem Post

- Learn more about America’s struggle against terrorism from the book Legislating the War on Terror

- Read Wittes and Goldsmith's Washington Post op-ed, "Will Obama Follow Bush Or FDR?"

Reforming the Primary Process: Author Elaine Kamarck shares perspective

“Democratic Change Commission” hosts Kamarck at public meeting

It’s an off year between presidential election seasons, so the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee have begun to discuss, once again, the many issues entangling the presidential primary elections. According to a Washington Post article on Sunday, June 28, Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System author Elaine Kamarck added her own opinion to the debate at a public meeting held by the “Democratic Change Commission.” Speaking before an audience of political elites, Kamarck suggested that superdelegates be eliminated from the primary process, a controversial stance that garnered a mixed response. From the article, Kamarck argued that “the selection of presidential nominees is now a public process and has eliminated the need for elites who could assert themselves in the equivalent of a back-room role.”

Kamarck’s Primary Politics, which explores how the presidential primary process became the complex, often confusing system that it is today, will be published this July.

- Read the Washington Post's "There They Go Again: Fixing the Primary Process"

- Learn more about Primary Politics

Journey into America Movie Premieres July 4

In 2010 Brookings will publish a follow-up to Akbar Ahmed's Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization entitled Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam. Ahmed's new book follows the Muslim professor as he sets out to discover America with a team of young Americans. They visited over 75 cities and more than 100 mosques in an unprecendented project interviewing countless Americans in their homes, schools, and places of worship. "Journey into America" the movie premieres Saturday, July 4 at 9 p.m at the Washington DC Convention Center as a part of the Islamic Film Festival at the Islamic Society of North America's (ISNA) annual convention.

- Learn more about "Journey into America" from Frankie Martin's HuffPo post, "Discovering America"

- Follow the Journey into America blog

What happens when mayors take charge of schools?

School governance in the city

Public schools have been a source of contention when deciding who controls what in school districts. The Economist and The Detroit News take advice from Joseph Viteritti, editor of When Mayors Take Charge: School Governance in the City, in their reports on mayoral control of public schools. When Mayors Take Charge investigates cases of mayoral control in New York, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. The Economist's "Mayoral control of schools in New York: Political prisoners" asserts that “lawmakers in Albany are not thinking about New York’s children or any of their constituents at the moment.” Correspondingly, The Detroit News comments in "Mayoral control of Detroit schools debated" that “parents and constituents are frustrated with what they perceive to be the incompetence of the 11-member school board they fought to elect, ending the 1999-2005 mayoral control.”

Viteritti pools insight from leading experts on how to tackle the factors behind the development of mayoral control and possible ways to improve the system as well its prospects for the future. He is the Blanche D. Blank Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College, CUNY. He previously served as special assistant to the chancellor of schools in New York and as senior adviser to superintendents in Boston and San Francisco. He was also recently the executive director of the Commission on School Governance in New York.

In When Mayors Take Charge, the urgent problem of low-performing urban schools is expertly sliced and diced by a band of historians and political scientists. Policy elites and street-level reformers need to know that mayoral control does matter to democratic participation and managerial efficiency but not necessarily to students' test scores. —Larry Cuban, Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University

- Learn more about When Mayors Take Charge

- Read the articles from The Economist and The Detroit News

The Limits of Influence: America’s Role in Kashmir

India Abroad interviews author Howard Schaffer

In an interview with India Abroad [pdf], Former ambassador to Bangladesh Howard B. Schaffer explains the limits of America’s influence in the highly disputed Kashmir region since 1947 until today.

Schaffer reveals that America’s role in the Kashmir region during the 1940s to 1960s developed a settlement that was limited, unsuccessful, and focused on crisis-management. He recommends that both India and Pakistan develop strong governments in order for the region to advance considerably. Schaffer adds that the United States might be of assistance only if this is achieved.

“Howard Schaffer’s superb book on Kashmir explains the effect it has had not only on India-Pakistan relations, but also on the Cold War and the growth of radical Islam. The author skillfully uses the historical narrative as a lead-in to the persuasive final chapter on why the Obama administration should take a major role in helping solve the Kashmir dispute,” says Former US envoy to Pakistan, Robert B. Oakley.

Schaffer imparts 36 years of expertise on South Asia into his book, The Limits of Influence, and is currently the Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.

- Learn more about The Limits of Influence

- Read the India Abroad interview [pdf]

Innovation in Government

Video and audio now available

You can now watch video clips and listen to the entire audio transcript from Wednesday's "Innovation in Government" event at Brookings.