How different should 21st century learning be?
Monday’s EIA Communiqué linked to a lecture Scott McLeod gave to the NEA entitled, “Teaching and learning in an era of disruptive innovation.” McLeod’s lecture is
Monday’s EIA Communiqué linked to a lecture Scott McLeod gave to the NEA entitled, “Teaching and learning in an era of disruptive innovation.” McLeod’s lecture is
There’s a debate brewing about how much--if at all--great standards contribute to education reform. This week, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial saying that they are not as important to student achievement as universal choice.
New York Magazine has a cover story entitled “The Junior Meritocracy.” The crux of the article is that administering standardized admissions and IQ tests to 4-year-olds--a common practice for entry into top public and private NYC kindergartens--is pointless.
"Clay Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma and a Harvard business professor, is coming out with a new book that's sure to create a buzz in the K-12 space, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.
"E.J. Dionne's column in yesterday's Washington Post reminded me that I had failed to comment on Barack Obama's Father's Day sermon...." Read it here.
I’ve been out of town the last two weeks so I missed the Chairman Obey-edudrama…I know, from the dozens of emails clogging my in-box, that, as an education reformer, I’m supposed to scream bloody murder and view this budget scrum as the climax in an&nbs
Conventional wisdom around Washington says that the No Child Left Behind act (oops, I mean the Elementary and Secondary Education act) won’t be reauthorized again next year. (Its update has been overdue since 2007.) That’s for several reasons.
That's one of the great points in this strong U.S. News and World Report piece by Eduwonk Andy Rotherham.
Several of us at Fordham (and some of our friends and associates in the larger ed policy world) have heard recently from James Garner, the former director of Research and Training Associates in Belleville, New Jersey.
Regular Flypaper readers know that I've been skeptical of the stimulus package moving through Congress, at least as it relates to education.
"Campaign K-12 astutely points out that the number of 'surrogates' representing the Obama campaign appears to be expanding infinitely.
Jay Greene is upset that nobody has addressed his concerns about the Common Core State Standards initiative.
The Wall Street Journal editorial page has already taken the Administration to task for backing away from some of its tougher “Race to the Top” provisions around teacher evaluations and charter schools in the program’s
Ed Week’s Michele McNeil broke the news last week that Arne Duncan has decided not to release the names of the “Race to the Top” reviewers--until after the competition is over and grants have been announced.
The trusty Reform-o-Meter has become a little rusty lately; that's because there hasn't been a lot of action at the U.S. Department of Education worth rating. This is particularly true since we still don't know who the picks for Deputy Secretary, Undersecretary, or Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education will be.
We've already weighed in on what president-Elect Obama's selection of Arne Duncan as the next U.S. Secretary of Education may mean for education policy.
One of the most striking aspects of the proposed Race to the Top application released last week (see my previous commentary) is its treatment of the "teacher data firewall" issue.
There's been a lot of debate recently about the degree to which the feds can coerce states or school districts to do things they don't want to do (see here,
"It's hard to find a better example of the positive change that can come from charter school competition than this statement by Washington Teachers Union president George Parker (part of an interview published by the National Council on Teacher Quality)...." Read it here
I've been running a bit behind all week...but this weekend's New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof deserves a comment.
"I'm not just following the Education Olympics coverage; I'm also addicted to the regular Olympics as well. And during last night's broadcast I heard for the first time that Michael Phelps's mother is a middle school principal...." Read it here.
An article by Stephan Thernstrom in the Wall Street Journal last week caught my eye.
"That's the impression I get from reading Karin Chenoweth's post about Fordham's high-achieving students study...." Read it here.
I just happened to be reading the latest Metlife Survey of the American Teacher, and came across this fascinating chart…Notice what happened during the George W.
The issue of parental involvement is vexing for education reformers. Everybody knows that it matters, but nobody really knows how to encourage it. In a free society, how do schools, or governments, make sure that parents provide the love, attention, discipline, nurturing, and care that their kids need to succeed? The short answer is: they can’t.
I've been musing for days (here and here) about who should be the next Secretary of Educatio
Today we live in a different country than we did even 10 days ago. Back then we were partaken with partisanship and infected with invectiveness. Now we watch with awe as the sitting president and the president-elect prepare for yet another peaceful, democratic transition of power.
Releasing bad news on a Friday afternoon is a time-honored tradition among governments of all political leanings. (The public is distracted by weekend plans; few people read the Saturday paper.) The Obama Administration is showing itself to be no different; it's no coincidence that the latest (very positive) findings about the D.C.
"I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona, today (projected high: 99 degrees) for an education reform summit hosted by the State Policy Network, the Alliance for School Choice, and the Friedman Foundation.
There's plenty to like about [Jonathan] Alter's piece; I love the quote by House education committee chairman George Miller that "the debate is between incrementalists and disrupters, and I'm with the disrupters." (Alter must have sat in on an editorial board meeting with his Post colleagues because they used that terminology too.) But Mr.