Quotables

Sizer's legacy

Though much of Professor Sizer’s work focused on the roles of teachers and administrators, he seldom lost sight of the group he considered the primary actors in the educational process. He wrote in “Horace’s Compromise,” “Horace Smith and his ablest colleagues may be the key to better high schools, but it is respected adolescents who will shape them.”(New York Times)

His view of education reform -- with a premium on classroom creativity, bottom-up innovation and multiple measures of student learning -- was often at odds with the movement toward state standards, achievement testing and school accountability that culminated in the 2002 No Child Left Behind law. (Washington Post)

"He was an incredible connector," recalled Professor Howard Gardner. "He knew everybody, was on good terms with people, and helped the career development of many people. There were hundreds, or thousands, of people who went through his shop. He had a human influence on many people." (Harvard Graduate School of Education)