We have a lot of rhetoric today about high rigor and you often hear terms like that thrown about when discussing the Common Core. But the American education system historically has not embraced intellectual seriousness.

Teaching is been seen as kind of a moral calling and not as an intellectual job.

I always make the point that teachers are people too, and that they don't just want to be in front of kids all day and have children be their only feedback loop.

The question is rarely asked, Why is it that so few other Americans have these protections? The question is more often asked, Why do teachers have it so easy?

Men are more salary-sensitive when they're choosing a job.

There are a lot of polls that show that actually Americans have a pretty high opinion of teachers, that Americans think teachers are just about as prestigious as doctors.

The idea that because the school day is shorter or the school year is shorter than the sort of white collar workday or work year, that does not actually capture how teachers spend their time.

If you look at the early nineteenth century you see the idea that we educate children to be voters and to be participants in our popular democracy. And then at the turn of the century when more and more immigrants are coming into the schools, Americanization becomes a more explicit part of the agenda.

Coming to the civil rights movement in the twentieth century, we begin to have this idea that's still with us today, which is that the main purpose of public education is closing achievement gaps.

I wrote a work of history, I looked at over 500 sources - I spent three-and-a-half years on the project. I think the most gratifying and wonderful thing about the reaction is that people are learning things from the history that feel relevant to today.

There's definitely a tension between the way teaching is talked about and understood at the political level and how everyday average Americans think about teachers.

Just in general, when we look at our school system, there is so much overlap with our criminal justice system in terms of our low-income youth.

I think any sort of system that gives teachers more opportunities like teacher-led schools is a positive one that's going to lead to better retention in the profession, and it's going to be more intellectually challenging, so teachers stay engaged with their work over the many years of their career.

I don't think school reform should be motivated by missionary zeal. I think it should be motivated by evidence of what works.