ED bullies schools over bullying
A week before the mid-term elections, Arne Duncan and his team have taken a courageous stand: they're against bullying children. ?Bullying is a problem that shouldn't exist,?
A week before the mid-term elections, Arne Duncan and his team have taken a courageous stand: they're against bullying children. ?Bullying is a problem that shouldn't exist,?
We've got a great issue of the Education Gadfly for you this week. To whet the appetite, here's a smattering of the articles and analyses that you'll find within its wings:
Review: Efficacy of Schoolwide Programs to Promote Social and Character Development and Reduce Problem Behavior in Elementary School Children
If a recent spate of Wall Street Journal articles is any clue, a week before the election we could be sitting on a tectonic fault with the potential to turn into an education earthquake?and that might actually be a blessing. It has to do with teachers, their unions, and U.S. politics?all of which would benefit from some profound movement.
If you're following the school closure / school turnaround debate, the story in today's NY Times ? ?In Sharp Rise, 47 City Schools May Close Over Performance? ? will offer some insights, if not a great deal of , er, closure.
Listen to a good radio debate between Michael Kirst and William Evers (by way of Andy Rotherham) on education and the California gubernatorial race.? It's money and more.
While our education system obsesses over the latest socio-pathological?disease (e.g. bullying) or vacuous phrase (e.g. 21st century skills),? more of the rest of the world seems to be keeping its eyes on the education prize.?
On Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reported that more than half of the state's schools failed to meet federal testing targets.?? This isn't a widespread indictment of the performance of public schools, however.??
That's my random question of the day. It dawned on me that this Big Idea, circa 2005, has all but vanished. Thirty seconds of Googling indicates that Patrick Byrne, the Overstock CEO who spent big bucks pushing the notion, has been embroiled in some controversy in recent years. Is that why it fell off the radar screen?
What's worse for students: having a moldy gym or spending too much time texting and browsing Facebook?
The latest Education Gadfly Show is now available for download. This week Mike and Rick answer life's mysteries as they pertain to the election, OCR overreach, and publicly-available teacher ratings. And if that's not enough, Amber questions character education and Chris brings in the dogs.
?America needs a high bar so everyone is on a level playing field. Reform can't be led from Washington. It has to be led by state.? Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
It seems that teachers in Buffalo, NY, racked up nearly $9 million worth of taxpayer-covered cosmetic procedures in 2009. This is according to the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, the state-appointed authority overseeing public school finances. That's right?chemical peels, skin treatments, etc.
October must be the month for manifestos. Earlier this month there was the ?how to fix our schools?
What makes a good school? If you're to believe the Century Foundation, good schools are defined by the number of affluent students they serve. Too few? Bad school. Nearly all? Good school. This is, of course, the idea behind economic integration. Give more poor students the privilege of attending wealthier schools and student achievement will improve.
Or is the fact that charter operator Eva Moskowitz has just won a charter for a new school on Manhattan's upper west side a sign that??rich people (this needs to be checked)?can live with (among?) poor public schools too?
Character programs lack social intelligence
We don't need innovation, but problem-solving
Wrong methods for the right ideas
The death and life of the great American teachers union
Can be summarized by this short passage in today's Ohio Education Gadfly:
NJ teachers don't have very nice things to say about Chris Christie behind closed doors, which Christie's not exactly thrilled about?
?There's not a hint in the Constitution that we ought to have it, and there's not a shred of evidence that it's done anything to improve education.'' Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett on the Department of Education
Washington, D.C.'s mayor-in-waiting, Vincent Gray, wants to assure private foundations that education reform is high on his agenda. ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
Things are not well at Dartmouth and Cornell: But in an effort to spur gifts among young soon-to-be alumni, students at two Ivy League institutions are trying a different approach: publicizing the names of seniors who don't contribute to their class gift.
The nation's education secretary, Arne Duncan, was talking schools today in Richmond at the Governor's Education Summit. ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow