Last week, Dan Brown appeared on NPR's "Diane Rehm Show" alongside National Book Award-winning education writer Jonathan Kozol to discuss their new books and the issues facing new teachers.

 

Assistant Secretary of Education Doug Mesecar joined them on the program, offering unflinching support for No Child Left Behind, the sweeping federal legislation that Mr. Kozol and I feel does more harm than good.

 

In fact, Susan Fuhrman, the president of Teachers College, Columbia University (a top-ranked graduate school for education in the U.S.) endorsed my book as: "A vivid portrait of the teacher retention challenge. Talented beginners often find the challenges overwhelming and the support lacking. Each student in Dan's class becomes someone the reader cares about -- they all deserve the finest teachers and those teachers deserve a system that supports them..."

 

This article appeared in the August 28, 2007 edition of the Huffington Post.