Welcome to the new-and-improved Late Bell, Fordham's uncanny afternoon newsletter! We're starting off our bold new era with a special Fordham-in-the-news edition.
WHEN YOU’RE AN EDUCATION-POLICY WONK AND A PUBLIC SCHOOL DAD
“Education leaders are often put off by parents who know a lot about schools and won’t shut up. Petrilli is definitely in that category,” notes Jay Mathews of the Washington Post on a recent column in which this education-policy dad asks where’s the beef on curriculum.
THE EDUCATION-REFORM PLAYOFFS
At the National Review Online, Fordham’s Chester E. Finn, Jr. asks whether pushing only a test-based accountability system is the best strategy. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving up on reform: “Major-league education change is still needed, maybe now more than ever, and it’s no time for either complacency or despair.”
YOU SAY SKILLS, WE SAY KNOWLEDGE
Emily Richmond chronicles why Common Core might be more difficult to implement in the higher grades since the standards are based on the idea that kids need knowledge. Case in point? Richmond highlights Robert Pondiscio’s take on close reading.
TO WAIVER OR NOT TO WAIVER?
‘“We’re punishing schools and educators, and arguably kids, because state policy makers don’t want to do what” the Education Department demands. “Talk about friendly fire," said Michael Petrilli to the New York Times on states that have lost their NCLB waivers.
RACING FOR EDUCATION DETAILS
“Neither candidate has been really clear with what their education plan will be,” notes Chad Aldis to the Columbus Dispatch on Ohio’s much-watched gubernatorial race between sitting Governor John Kasich and challenger Ed FitzGerald.
IS DEMOCRACY REALLY THE BEST POLICY?
What makes a high-performing charter school system work? When it comes to governance, Mike Petrilli asked if democracy is really the best policy at the Fordham LIVE event hosted last week: “[D]o we just have to accept that, in this case, democracy is not working as we’d like it to?”
