Welcome to The Education Daly
This newsletter is for people who ask an annoying number of questions. I have this problem.
When I become afflicted with curiosity, I tend to read too much, download spreadsheets that make my eyeballs hurt, call people who don’t want to talk to me, discover that my original theory was wrong, and eventually send you the whole mess, lightly edited.
That’s the program.
What You Will Not Receive
No daily news roundup. No Twitter fights. No hot takes.
The Education Daly is a crock pot dish. I publish roughly once a month. Some pieces involve original data work. Some involve history. Most involve unwelcome Gen X pop culture references. It’s vaguely possible you’ll read something you didn’t already know.
Who is Tim Daly?
Not the handsome devil who starred on Wings and The Sopranos. I’m the education Daly.
I started my career teaching middle school in Baltimore, then spent fifteen years at TNTP, eventually serving as its president. In 2015, I helped start EdNavigator and served as CEO through 2025.
I’ve spent my career trying to make schools work better. I’ve also been wrong about many, many things. As I get older, I’m interested in understanding why.
Still here?
If you are willing to read several hundred words about an education newsletter before subscribing to it, congratulations, you are the target demographic.
Also, The Education Daly is free.
Some Popular Posts
Mississippi Can't Possibly Have Good Schools
Painting the Deep South as an embarrassing cultural backwater is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice among elites. It’s not just tolerated - it’s venerated.
The Fall of the Class of 2023
In 2010, a new class of kindergarteners entered our public schools. Their timing was slightly unlucky. A massive global recession had just forced most states to make substantial cuts to education funding.
The Best American School System
At the end of World War II, the United States military hastily organized schools for the children of service members who remained stationed in Europe and Asia. At first, each branch managed its own set. Eventually, they were consolidated into a single entity. In 1994, the overseas schools were joined with an existing network of domestic schools for the …
