Teaching career[edit]
After earning his undergraduate degree, Bowman decided not to pursue a career in sports management. Upon the suggestion of a family friend who worked for the
New York City Department of Education, Bowman began working as an educator. His first job was as a crisis management teacher in a
South Bronx elementary school.
[11] In 2009, he founded Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, a public middle school in
the Bronx.
[10][11]
As principal of Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, Bowman curated a "wall of honor" featuring likenesses of prominent Black, Latino, and Asian individuals. Its honorees included
Martin Luther King Jr.,
Sonia Sotomayor,
Cynthia McKinney,
Mutulu Shakur, and
Assata Shakur.
[17][18][19] HuffPost political reporter Daniel Marans criticized Bowman for including "a notorious antisemite and two Black militants convicted of murder and armed robbery"; Bowman's campaign spokesperson responded that it is "a rhetorical tool of the far right to insinuate educating students on major figures of Black American history is serving to promote hateful or divisive rhetoric or actions."
[17]
Bowman became a leading advocate against
standardized testing.
[20][21] His blog on the role of standardized testing received national attention.
[20] He wrote that high-stakes testing had a role in perpetuating inequalities,
[22] including turnover, tumult, and a vicious cycle it creates in students' and educators' lives, as assessment performance damages a school's ability to teach and, subsequently, the quality of the education upon which the student is assessed. By the mid-2010s, a quarter of Bowman's students had opted out of standardized testing.
Bowman also advocated for children to receive arts, history, and science education in addition to the basics of literacy and numeracy.
[20] Bowman's school policy used a
restorative justice model to address the
school-to-prison pipeline.
[23] After 10 years as principal, he left the job to focus on his congressional campaign.
[24]
