Aloha from AEI
Next Thursday morning from 9:30 to 11 am, AEI will introduce a new paper by Rick Hess and Juliet Squire with an event entitled, "School Restructuring under No Child Left Behind: Lessons from Hawaii." Featured panelists include Justin Cohen (District of Columbia Public Schools), Jeffery Henig (Columbia University Teachers College), and Gene Wilhoit (Council of Chief State School
A lovely engagement
This week, Mike and Rick chat about MBAs, fidgety 20-somethings, and making money off poor kids. Our own Liam Julian tells us why he was suspended in high school, and Education News of the Weird is marvelously spun. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
Amber, the fashionista
This week, Mike and Stafford discuss education reform’s newfound Wall Street heft, what to do about expensive teachers, and whether we really want China supplying our Chinese teachers. Then Amber gives us more evidence that nothing works (in gold-standard studies, at least) and Janie won’t let Rate that Reform take a kiddie sabbatical—a.k.a., temporary homeschooling.
America's private public schools
Ask Americans if they support “public schools,” and you will get a resounding “yes.” At the heart of our abiding commitment to the idea of public education is Horace Mann’s ideal of the “common school”: a place whose doors are open to everybody, and where all children, regardless of social class, race or ethnic
America's worst schools: discuss
A daylong conference at the American Enterprise Institute about turning around failing schools, featuring accomplished and engaging panelists too numerous to name, is planned for Tuesday, March 11th. Find here all the information you could ever want.
AmeriCorps in search of top managers
The AmeriCorps national service program seeks to fill four critical jobs: the directorships of the three programs that make up AmeriCorps (AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps, AmeriCorps*VISTA, and AmeriCorps*State and National) and the director of recruitment.
A million little pieces of chalk
Editor’s note: Chester E. “Checker” Finn, Jr. is currently enjoying a brief sabbatical, hanging out at the Calvin Coolidge Institute on the campus of W. Averell Harriman III University and slaving over a memoir of his 40 years in education reform. Here are a few excerpts from the first draft.
A Misplaced Race Card
My jaw did the proverbial drop when I read this opening sentence in a front page story in Sunday’s Albany Times Union: “Albany’s charter schools have created a second school system that is almost entirely segregated.”…Now that nearly a quarter of Albany&
Analyze this
Education Pioneers is expanding its analyst fellowship program from the Bay Area to Boston this year, and is accepting applications. Learn more about the program here.
An artful brouhaha
This week, Mike and Rick discuss private charter schools that teach religion and screw over poor kids, why the Pope is demanding school uniforms, and the Wall Street Journal's incompetence. Art Levine chats about his new study on teacher education, and Education News of the Weird knows that good things come in small packages.
And keeping it off
Such inattention to detail, such malicious slander, I can not tolerate. Your recent report, The Leadership Bimbo, incorrectly depicts me on its front cover as at least 30 or 40 pounds heavier than I actually am.
Π (net) + 1
The Policy Innovators in Education Network (PIE-Net) is on the hunt for a Director of Communications and Public Affairs. This individual would ideally have media and public relations experience and work with the Executive Director to improve the Network’s internal communications and expand PIE-Net’s membership and visibility.
And we're back
This week, Mike and Rick discuss Hillary Clinton, dropouts, and impotent mayors. Sheila Byrd flies in to chat about Fordham's new AP/IB report, and Education News of the Weird is tracking you. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
Andy, back in time for the Master's
It’s all ESEA all the time this week, as Andy and Mike square off in debate over the Obama Administration’s reauthorization blueprint. Then Amber tells us about charter-school teacher evaluations and Stafford wants to know is it Conn-ec-ti-cut?
Andy's last stand
Join us as we bid farewell to New Jersey’s new Deputy Commissioner of Education, Andy Smarick. First, he and Mike discuss how to educate the severely disabled, then Andy gives us his final thoughts on Race to the Top, School Improvement Grants, and turnarounds.
A new era of selective charters?
Spectrum Academy--the catchy if slightly off-putting name for Utah’s K-8 charter school for students with autism (or “on the spectrum”--get it?)--will expand its offerings to high school in fall 2010. What’s more interesting is how the school’s very existence reminds us of two contentious issues.
A new member of the team
Fordham is pleased to welcome Jeff Kuhner, our new communications director. Jeff formerly worked at the Washington Times as editor of Insight Magazine. We're thrilled to have him on board.
A new start for Head Start--if Congress doesn't get in the way
The Head Start program has needed a radical overhaul for the past forty-five years, i.e. ever since its founding and its near-immediate demonstration that it doesn’t do much lasting good by way of readying poor kids to succeed in school.
A niche for everyone
This week, Mike and Rick discuss the finer points of French pronunciation, the treasures of the Canadian frontier, and Eddie Murphy's lessons for closing the achievement gap.
A non-liberal education
No, it's not Petraeus Week at National Review Online--it's Education Week! Check it out here.
Anyone?
The Detroit Glee Repress reported this week that the 2007 graduation rate in the city's public schools was zero percent-not a single student received a diploma last year. Reporters and grief counselors spent weeks combing Motor City for a high-school graduate but found none.
A penny saved in 2010
There’s still time to sign up for the joint Fordham-AEI conference “A Penny Saved: How Schools and Districts Can Tighten Their Belts While Serving Students Better.” It runs all day on January 11, 2009 at the Mayflower Hotel--that bastion of fiscal responsibility and moderation--in downtown Washingto
A perfect storm
This week, Mike and Rick talk about Arizona, Atlanta, Checker Finn, and Diane Ravitch. Professor Stefanie DeLuca, of Johns Hopkins, chats about why moving poor kids won't help them learn, and Education News of the Weird is bombastic. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
Apologia
Though recent developments in Iraq take some of the sting out of this mistake, it was wrong of me (in a Gadfly editorial on March 27) to analogize American teacher unions and ed schools to "Republican Guards," who were, at the time, battling brave U.S. servicemen and women. My point, of course, was that we, too, have institutions devoted to discredited regimes.
A promising future for charter schools in Dayton
There was a terrific editorial in Saturday’s Dayton Daily News about the storied twelve-year charter school history in Fordham’s hometown and why we can be optimistic about the future of charters there. As DDN notes, until New Orleans began r
Are ed schools beyond repair?
Or are they more amenable to change than conventional wisdom suggests? We’ll be discussing these very questions on December 2 from 3:30 to 5:00 PM, and we’d be pleased if you’d care to join us. Learn more or RSVP here.
Are ed schools hopeless?
With this week’s NCATE report, and our own Cracks in the Ivory Tower?, the role that education schools can—and want to—play in reforming K-12 schooling is under s
Are you hot for Teacher?
With football on the brain, Mike and Rick offer up a play-by-play of the Joel Klein-Cathie Black saga in New York City, and sack NCATE’s reform report. Amber reveals an interesting Education Next survey to the hosts, and Chris decries a camp-out.