ABSTRACT
Few educators have inspired progressive education as much as Deborah Meier. When I met her at her home in Hillsdale, New York, fresh from a swim in the pond on her property, Deborah’s grandmotherly nature belied her having been the visionary behind Central Park East Elementary, and later, secondary schools-and that’s part of her success. In 1974, Central Park East Elementary School (CPE) in East Harlem opened its doors with a mission to provide inner city children with the finest educators and pedagogy available. Instead of saying that the old neighborhood had to be torn down and students more rigidly tracked, the reformers dared to ask: What would happen if we gave inner-city students the best education the country has to offer? The results of this bottom-up reform were astounding. To this day, Central Park East and its later secondary school are known as one of the most academically enriching schools in the United States. Meier’s work has given inspiration to literally hundreds of academically rigorous, progressive schools around the country. Her books: The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons from America from a Small School in Harlem; In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing; and Standardization and Will Standards Save Public Education are a must-read for those involved in meaningful school reform. She is now principal of Mission Hill School in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
