Introducing The Obama Reform-o-Meter 2.0
Stafford PalmieriDo you wait anxiously for another Obama Reform-o-meter???Do you refresh the Flypaper homepage repeatedly or check your RSS feed hourly wanting to see how the Administration is doing? Well your prayers are answered: Obama Reform-o-meters 24-7.
Linda Darling-Hammond bows out
Michael J. PetrilliAs first reported by Politics K-12 yesterday, Stanford Professor Linda Darling-Hammond has decided to return to Palo Alto rather than seek a top position in the Obama Administration.
The economic stimulus bill: Not so hot for education reform
Michael J. PetrilliWith the stroke of a pen on Tuesday, President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan became the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I'm no economist but I certainly buy the president's basic argument about the need for such a stimulus.
NCATE's Jim Cibulka at AEI
Stafford PalmieriWhile you're waiting for the Gadfly to appear in your inboxes (who isn't, honestly?) next Thursday (February 26), you could attend this neat event at AEI: Jim Cibulka, recently elected president of NCATE, the National Council for Accreditation o
Governor Strickland: Learn from Philadelphia
Eric OsbergOhio's governor is being assailed, and rightly so, for his education plan, with its preference for creating adult jobs over ensuring that students learn.
Why state variation matters, and what to do about it
Michael J. PetrilliI spent the morning doing a "radio tour" of talk shows around the country, explaining our new Accountability Illusion report. A common question is why it matters that states are implementing NCLB so differently. After all, states had very different accountability systems before NCLB.
Breaking News: Arne Duncan comments on Fordham's Accountability Illusion study
Michael J. PetrilliThis just in, from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's office:
The Accountability Illusion
Michael J. PetrilliTake away all the jargon, emotion, envy, confusion, and embarrassment and much of the No Child Left Behind debate comes down to this: Which schools are good, which are bad, and does NCLB do a decent job of telling the difference?
Aversion to conversion
Just last week, we learned that Michael "Noah" Bloomberg would pack his ark with four charter-converted Brooklyn Catholic schools. Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, the seas for this journey are already proving stormy.
Closing the Expectations Gap: Fourth Annual 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School Policies with the Demands of College and Careers
Achieve, Inc.American Diploma Project NetworkFebruary 2009
An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification: Final Report
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Jill Constantine, Daniel Player, Tim Silva, Kristin Hallgren, Mary Grider, and John DekeMathematica Policy ResearchInstitute of Education SciencesFebruary 2009
Impact of For-Profit and Nonprofit Management on Student Achievement:
Paul E. Peterson and Matthew M. ChingosJohn F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard UniversitySpring 2009
"Hurricane Wagner" is no hurricane
To the editor:I continue to be both surprised and disappointed by the response ("Hurricane Wagner," February 5, 2009) by some conservatives to my book, The Global Achievement Gap, and their claims that I don't believe in testing, don't value academic content knowledge, and lack skills as a researcher.
But did he score proficient?
At last, veritable proof that test prep pays real-life dividends. Seventeen-year old Geoffrey Stanford approached the Kansas state test just like his teachers told him to: "Every sentence. Every word.
A dandy from Randi
Gadfly tends to give AFT President Randi Weingarten a (deserved) hard time, so when she does something praiseworthy his antennae perk up. So it was this week, when she took a strong stand for national standards in the Washington Post. "[E]very child attending U.S. public schools should be taught to high standards, regardless of where he or she lives," she opined.
A-level tan
The Brits have taken voc ed to new lows. In an effort to encourage teens to sign up for courses more suited to their abilities, education officials have expanded the number of courses that count toward "league tables," i.e. how schools are evaluated and compared.
Dear Saint Nick
Michael J. PetrilliI've been running a bit behind all week (we're getting ready for a MAJOR report release tomorrow...stay tuned) but this weekend's New York Times column by Nicholas
Roberto Rodriguez heads to the White House
Michael J. PetrilliDemocrats for Education Reform appears to be playing a big role staffing the Obama Administration because another one of its picks is getting a key job.
Chats with Checker (and others)
Stafford PalmieriJoin Fordham's Checker Finn, Ed Sector's Tom Toch, and CCSSO's Gene Wilhoit tomorrow at 3 pm for a live online chat of Obama's education plan. The chat is sponsored by Education Week??and coincides with the release of Ed Week's latest book, The Obama Education Plan: An Education Week Guide.
The Accountability Illusion: An interview with Checker
Stafford PalmieriHear Fordham's Checker Finn explain The Accountability Illusion.
Strickland's throw away response
Terry RyanIn the news business, reporters have a saying for a boiler plate quote an editor can remove to tighten a story. It's "throw-away" and that's exactly what the governor's response to the Fordham/Paul Hill study deserves.
Seniority-Based Layoffs will Exacerbate Job Loss in Public Education
Marguerite RozaCenter on Reinventing Public EducationFebruary 2009
State board likes the governor's plans even without the details
Emmy L. PartinThe State Board of Education passed a resolution last week (15-2, with two members absent) commending Gov. Strickland's education reform plan (see here).
Cincinnati Catholic schools are beginning to tout test scores
Mike LaffertyMore schools in the Cincinnati archdiocese, the nation's eighth-largest Catholic school system, are touting test scores to encourage enrollment.
A Longitudinal Analysis of Charter School Performance in Oakland Unified School District
California Charter Schools AssociationJanuary 2009A new report from the California Charter School Association indicates Oakland-area charter schools are out-performing their public district-school peers (see here).
Why not national standards for big-city school districts?
Michael J. PetrilliRandi (Weingarten) turned in a dandy (op-ed) yesterday in the Washington Post making the case for national standards in education: