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Karin Chenoweth

The Education Trust

As writer-in-residence at The Education Trust, Karin Chenoweth leads the organization’s efforts to learn from and write about successful and improving schools with significant populations of children of color and children living in poverty. She co-authored Getting It Done: Leading Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2011), a careful study of the beliefs and practices of effective leaders of high-poverty and high-minority schools. Getting It Done builds on two previous books by Chenoweth, “It’s Being Done:” Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2007) and How It’s Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2009). She writes a regular column for The Huffington Post that focuses on schools and education.

Before joining Ed Trust, Chenoweth wrote a weekly column on schools and education for The Washington Post and before that she was senior writer and executive editor for Black Issues In Higher Education (now Diverse). As a freelance writer, she wrote for such publications as Education WeekAmerican TeacherAmerican EducatorSchool Library Journal, and the Washington Post Magazine. In addition, she was an active parent volunteer throughout her children’s public schooling in Montgomery County, Maryland.

She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and a bachelor’s from Barnard College.

Latest Blog Posts

The Work of a Generation

Pop quiz: What large public school system “grows” its kids the most? Here’s a hint: In 1987, then-U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennet called it the “worst” school system in the country.

Drama in a School Conference Room

In Steubenville, Ohio, I experienced a truly memorable moment. It was in an ordinary school conference room, the kind of room where a principal might meet with a student’s family…

Malverne High School: “Little New York City”

There is a lot that has gone into making Malverne High School as successful as it is: teachers who say their motto is “above and beyond” and students who deeply appreciate their teachers’ efforts. Find out how Malverne makes school work for all kids.

Belief in Students Drives Success

Belief isn’t magic — alone it doesn’t transform anything. But belief in students gives teachers and administrators the will and drive to learn what they need to teach all children.