It now takes more to pass in Mass
How we love Massachusetts: its patriotic history, wind-swept shores, and, of course, sky-high standards. While other states take cues from NCLB to walk to the middle, Massachusetts keeps raising the bar.
How we love Massachusetts: its patriotic history, wind-swept shores, and, of course, sky-high standards. While other states take cues from NCLB to walk to the middle, Massachusetts keeps raising the bar.
Faculty bathroom graffiti. That's what some are calling teachers' latest past time. Unlike its aerosol cousin though, this graffiti is of the digital variety and something Gadfly sure knows a thing or two about. But unlike our blog's ideas that stick, these educator scribbles are slimy and slick.
Last spring, when we released our Catholic schools study just days before Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, it was a case of good timing.
The red pen. In our still largely decentralized public school system, it's no big surprise that this old-fashioned instrument of ill repute gets starkly different treatment from district to district and state to state.
Now that the financial markets have steadied themselves a bit, and Congressional leaders have started putting Humpty-Dumpty together again, it's easier to look at the demise of the bailout bill on Monday with cool detachment. And what's clear is that three factions were responsible for the bill's defeat: liberals, conservatives, and members from swing districts, particularly freshmen.
Last night: "Science should be taught in science class."--Sarah Palin August 2005: "Science class is for science"--The Education Gadfly
Economist Roland Fryer's Educational Innovation Laboratory is off to the races, thanks to the Broad Foundation, experimenting with new ways of incentivizing kids to learn in three big cities (New York , Chicago,
Today on Forbes.com , Checker explains why he finds reforms in LA, NY and Denver promising instances of thinking outside the box. It's all about the numbers--of the test score and dollar variety. When the old ways aren't working, shouldn't we try something new? Absolutely.
Cram schools seem to be popping up everywhere. Korea has them as does Flushing, Queens. The newest market?
No, I refer not to the failed bailout, but to the extension bill or "continuing resolution" needed now that Congress has failed to pass a 2009 budget prior to the end of the 2008 fiscal year (today).
It still makes me gag to see people I think well of--Roy Romer, J.C. Watts, Joel Klein--sharing a letterhead with the lamentable and reprehensible Al Sharpton.
Looks like Catholic schools are taking on a new role in urban France. (We've written on the importance of Catholic schools in the US, too.)
This blog has seen various commentary on why Michelle Rhee's plan, "Capital Gains," to pay students for good behavior and good grades was a bad idea (try here to see the ongoing conversation). Liam, in particular, was vehemently opposed to it in its New York City and Washington DC manifestations.
Mike may catch the attention of governors and superintendents, but school boards are deaf.
Oklahoma is trying an education venture some say will help kids stay in school and do better: removing one or perhaps two critical grades and creating separate schools for them. Ninth-graders in Coweta this year are the first to occupy a campus that's just for freshmen and Cache Public Schools plans something similar.
In the debate Friday night, Barack Obama responded to John McCain's idea of freezing federal spending by arguing that "the problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel." Then, on Face the Natio
Check out the latest battle over school choice in the comments section here .
Alyson Klein at Education Week 's Campaign K-12 picks up on my "scalpel " post to dig into the likely candidates for Barack Obama's knife, were he to win the pr
I don't always agree with Jay Mathews, but he has written an excellent column this morning. The crux of his argument is particularly well put:
As many of you, I hope, know, I, Thomas B. aka The Gadfly, have entered the social networking world--on Facebook. ??Just this morning, in fact, Joel Klein, Chancellor of New York City Schools, requested to become my friend on said networking site. I accepted his request with alacrity.
"Responsibility! Accountability! Discipline! Oversight!
Education journals get a lot of flack for their low research standards and willingness to publish almost anything. I've heard many people say that what education needs is something akin to JAMA or Science.
Kudos to Jay Mathews for writing this:
GADFLY NEWS SERVICE: HUNTSALOOSA, TN. A fourth-grade class in this small town gained national attention yesterday when a group of students petitioned their teacher to postpone their spelling test scheduled for Friday in light of the financial crisis on Wall Street.
Rick Hess's recent piece in The American is finally online.
According to Campaign K-12, Senator Barack Obama told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering today that he would invest $2 billion to close the international "education gap" by 2015--which I think means he'd work to get all kids across the world into schools by that date.
You won't want to miss this week's Gadfly. Checker and Stafford explain why community schools (as espoused by the Broader, Bolder folks and Randi Weingarten over at the AFT) are the antithesis of David Whitman's paternalistic model.