Competition and Quality in Deregulated Industries: Lessons for the Education Debate
Terry RyanJerry Ellig and Kenneth Kelly, Texas Review of Law & PoliticsSpring 2002
Preschool for All: Investing in a Productive and Just Society
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Committee on Economic Development2002
Teaching democracy in Afghanistan
Recent events make painfully clear that we cannot take the spread of democracy for granted, writes American Federation of Teachers president Sandy Feldman in her monthly "Where We Stand" column. Devotion to human dignity and freedom, to equal rights, and to the rule of law must be taught and learned and practiced.
Reform prospects in Dayton
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As readers may recall, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation keeps one eye focused on education reform issues at the national level and the other trained on K-12 education developments in Dayton, Ohio, where the Foundation had its origins and is engaged in a number of projects.Dayton is more interesting than you might think for education reformers.
Scientifically based research on education has its moment in the sun
The new federal education law, the No Child Left Behind Act, demands in many places that programs funded by federal dollars be supported by "scientifically based research," but among practitioners, and even some researchers, there is great uncertainty about what this means. To clarify what scientifically based research is and to explain why it is so crucial, the U.S.
Sticking with standards-based reform in Massachusetts and across the country
While opponents of standardized testing continue to attract attention in the media, a national survey released by Public Agenda this week found that support for turning back the clock on the standards movement is virtually nonexistent among parents (2 percent), teachers (1 percent), employers (2 percent), and college professors (1 percent), with very large majorities among each group also viewi
Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Jerry P. Gollub, et al.National Academy of Science, Committee on Programs for Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in American High SchoolsFebruary 2002
Still Getting It Wrong: The Continuing Failure of Special Education in the Baltimore City Public Schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Kalman Hettleman.The Abell Foundation February 2002
Advocacy Versus Authority-Silencing the Education Professoriate
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Paul Shaker and Elizabeth HeilmanPolicy Perspectives, American Association of Colleges for Teacher EducationJanuary 2002
School Choice in New York City After Three Years: An Evaluation of the School Choice Scholarships Program,
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Final Report, David Myers, Paul Peterson, et al.Mathematica Policy Research and the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance February 2002
On Leaving No Child Behind
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is less than two months old but it's already yowling and a lot of people are nervous about it, not unlike new parents unsure how best to soothe a crying infant.This is an enormous piece of legislation that possibly nobody has read from cover to cover.
Reading researchers find, yet again, that children need instruction in phonics
Heated arguments about the most effective form of reading instruction continue to polarize the teaching community, but yet another review of the research has found beyond dispute that "teaching that makes the rules of phonics clear will ultimately be more successful than teaching that does not." So conclude five professors of psychology, linguistics and pediatrics in a cover story in this month
Great teachers turn up on top no matter how they are evaluated
Two years ago, the Cincinnati Public Schools launched a teacher evaluation system in which teachers were measured against 17 standards, with the results to be linked to compensation and career advancement for individual teachers. Last week, the district announced that teachers who rated the highest under the evaluation system also produced the greatest gains in student achievement.
Diverse voices call for accountability in special education
President Bush's commission on special education, charged with recommending areas of reform to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), held hearings in Houston this week. Some expected the hearings to be attended only by representatives of special education advocacy groups opposed to any changes in IDEA, which is soon up for reauthorization.
Justices hear arguments on vouchers
If you spent last week on another planet and missed the press coverage of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on the Cleveland voucher program, you can catch up with the help of The Economist ("School Vouchers: A Supreme Opportunity," February 23, 2002.)
Learning in Deed: The power of service learning for American schools
Terry RyanThe National Commission on Service-LearningJanuary 2002
America vs. Singapore
If you feel amused or provoked by anything you read in the Education Gadfly, write us at [email protected]. From time to time we will publish correspondence that we think might interest other readers.
Transforming the American High School: New Directions for State and Local Policy
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Michael Cohen, Jobs for the Future and The Aspen InstituteDecember 2001
Facing the Hard Facts in Education Reform
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Paul E. Barton, Educational Testing ServiceJuly 2001
Learning Policy: When State Education Reform Works
Chester E. Finn, Jr.David K. Cohen and Heather C. Hill2001
School Dropouts: Education Could Play a Stronger Role in Identifying and Disseminating Promising Prevention Strategies
Chester E. Finn, Jr.General Accounting OfficeFebruary 1, 2002
Rethinking teacher professionalism
The big problem with the usual approaches to improving schools is that we fiddle with all kinds of things except the one thing that really matters, which is instructional practice, according to Harvard's Dick Elmore. Putting pressure on schools to improve won't work unless teachers know what to do at the level of practice, and Elmore says they don't.
AP, IB programs teach too much, critics say
Diane RavitchFor years, the advocates of standards-based reform have held up Advanced Placement tests and the International Baccalaureate as models: a clearly defined syllabus; a teacher who is prepared to teach that syllabus; a course based on the syllabus; an end-of-course examination.
What to do about education in the Islamic world?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The problem is now well established.
Winners and losers in DC's special ed lottery
Just because the D.C. public schools are failing to provide special education services for many children doesn't mean the school district isn't spending pots of money on special ed. A pair of articles in this week's Washington Post shed unhappy light on where some of that money is going.
Twenty-Five Years of Educating Children with Disabilities: The Good News and the Work Ahead
Chester E. Finn, Jr.American Youth Policy Forum and the Center on Education Policy2002
Milwaukee's Public Schools: The Untold Story of America's Newest Democratic Revolution
Chester E. Finn, Jr.John Gardner, American Education Reform CouncilJanuary 2002
Class Size Reduction in California
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Brian Stecher and George Bohrnstedt, CSR Research ConsortiumFebruary 4, 2002