Philissa Cramer
Chalkbeat
Evanston, IL, United States
Contact Philissa
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Philissa:
Ready or Not: What happens when students from cities with struggling schools head to college?
In a new project, Chalkbeat reporters in Detroit and Newark are following recent high school graduates in their first year of college — a time when when many students fall off track. → Read More
Want to explore race and class in Central Brooklyn’s schools? There’s a podcast for that.
Four years later, Freedman and Griffith’s collaboration has yielded an eight-part podcast series that looks at the past, present, and future of schools in District 16. → Read More
Want to explore race and class in Central Brooklyn’s schools? There’s a podcast for that.
Four years later, Freedman and Griffith’s collaboration has yielded an eight-part podcast series that looks at the past, present, and future of schools in District 16. → Read More
As high school exit exams fall out of favor in Washington and New Jersey, New York is increasingly an outlier
New York's Regents exams are seen as part of the state's education DNA. → Read More
Seven impressive journalists, 10 weeks, unlimited impact: Meet Chalkbeat's 2019 summer interns
This year's intern class is larger than ever and for the first time includes multiple people who read Chalkbeat when they were in high school. → Read More
As New York City makes limited changes to gifted programs, the regular admissions process yields predictable results
The stark segregation of the city’s gifted classes is on track to persist another year, according to new numbers from the city education department released Tuesday. → Read More
As New York City makes limited changes to gifted programs, the regular admissions process yields predictable results
The stark segregation of the city’s gifted classes is on track to persist another year, according to new numbers from the city education department released Tuesday. → Read More
Bringing a civics lesson to life, KIPP schools host a citizenship ceremony on campus
One hundred and fifty immigrants were moments away from taking their oath of citizenship on Tuesday when a high school student named Armando began to speak. Armando, a sophomore at KIPP Columbus High School in Ohio, took the podium in his school’s cafeteria and delivered an emotional speech in which he described testifying recently in … → Read More
11 charter schools get permission to open in New York, bringing the city closer to the legal limit
Nearly a dozen new charter schools have gotten the green light to open in New York in the next three years, bringing the city closer to a looming limit on charters that has advocates fretting. The SUNY Charter Schools Institute, one of two entities able to approve new charter schools for the state, signed off … → Read More
Rise & Shine: Advocates say the city's reading lists are not diverse
READING LIST Texts often assigned in city schools have few authors or characters of color, according to advocates who analyzed reading lists. N.Y. Daily News BACKLOG The city is months behind in paying therapists who provide special education services to children with disabilities. NY1 TWIST The city is giving Success Academy space inside Brooklyn’s P.S. 25 … → Read More
Rise & Shine: Spurred by moldy bread, Carranza vows school food improvements
INITIATIVE TURNAROUND Newly revealed emails show that Mayor Bill de Blasio once considered calling for a single enrollment system for district and charter schools. Chalkbeat IN MEMORIAM Brooklyn Ascend Charter School held a vigil Monday after a 16-year-old junior was shot to death while playing basketball, in the network’s second student murder in two years. … → Read More
‘Why limit educators?’ and 6 other questions Betsy DeVos will try to answer on her Southern tour
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is heading south — with her eye on outer space — for her second tour of schools and institutions that she says are challenging the status quo in education. For her second “Rethink Schools” tour, DeVos will spend time in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, starting Wednesday with visits to a … → Read More
Against a muted response to the year's test scores, New York's charter sector stands out
New York City students outperformed the state average on this year’s reading tests, but with consequences for low scores receding and year-over-year comparisons off the table because of changes to the test, reactions to the news have been muted. One notable exception: The city’s charter sector, which far outscored the rest of the city on … → Read More
Rise & Shine: Charter school supporters lose their primary bids
THE POLLS Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily fended off a primary challenge from longtime education advocate Cynthia Nixon, whose campaign pushed him to the left on education issues. But Jeff Klein, Jose Peralta, and Martin Dilan were among several Democratic state senators to lose their primaries after voting with Republicans on some issues, including charter schools. Politico, … → Read More
Janus, Success, Carranza, test scores — the NYC education news you missed this summer, summarized
New York City schools recessed for the summer on June 26, but education news hasn’t taken a vacation. From a new proposal to overhaul the specialized high school admissions process to a Supreme Court decision about union dues, major shifts occurred during July and August. If you disconnected from the news for a few weeks, … → Read More
Rise & Shine: DeVos could let districts use federal funds to buy guns
AFTER JANUS New York’s teachers unions said only a few members stopped paying dues this summer after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave them that option. But pressure from anti-union activists continues. Chalkbeat GUN MONEY In what would be an unprecedented move, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is considering letting districts use money meant to boost … → Read More
Watching the Manhattan desegregation debate unfold, a Brooklyn mom amasses support for bigger changes
With her petition against screened middle schools, Kelly Bare said she wanted "to put out an antidote to some of the ugliness that’s out there." → Read More
These New York City neighborhoods have relatively few charter schools, according to a new report
The report, from a school choice advocacy group, says the analysis is meant to help policy makers, charter operators, and parents alike. → Read More
These 854 schools stand to benefit from New York City's $125M funding boost
The new money won't be shared equally among the city's schools. → Read More
'We just wanted to help the movement': Meet the NYC teacher whose students wrote a #NeverAgain anthem
We checked in with Kyle Fackrell, Lavelle Prep's longtime music teacher, to learn about the song, his students, and their ambitions. → Read More