Harlem Success Academy in New York City is part of the Success Academy Charter Schools network, of which Eva Moskowitz — the author of a lively new memoir, The Education of Eva Moskowitz — is CEO. From that position, she has become one of the country’s most influential crusaders at a turning point for charter schooling.

In her march forward, Moskowitz has added considerably to the ranks of her foes. Teachers who oppose charter schools carry signs denouncing evil moskowitz. In 2013, Mayor Bill de Blasio campaigned on an education platform of ending Moskowitz’s “run of the place.” Even many supporters hold Moskowitz at what can generously be called a careful distance, and I get it. Her acid tirades are legendary and can get scathingly personal more quickly than I might have believed had she not once dressed me down after I wrote a story she didn’t like. But there's no denying her influence ...

Today, charter schools educate 94 percent of students in one city, New Orleans, and more than 30 percent of students in 19 other cities. If a determined group of philanthropists have their way, charters will take a leading role in more cities soon. Many of these schools are part of ambitious and fast-growing networks like Success.

In New York City, for instance, nearly 2 percent of all public-school students currently attend Success Academies, a percentage bound to climb. When I spoke with her recently, Moskowitz told me that she expects her network to expand to 100 schools in the next decade. That means Success would serve more than 50,000 students, making the network roughly the same size as Syracuse’s and Buffalo’s school districts combined. In Denver, meanwhile, a charter-school network called DSST Public Schools — which, like Success, has regularly posted academic results well above average public-school scores—will educate nearly a quarter of all middle- and high-school students in the city in the next decade. In New Orleans, four large charter networks together enroll one-third of all students who attend public school.

Read the full article about Eva Moskowitz's plan for education and charter schools by Elizabeth Green at The Atlantic.