No happy talk in the hinterlands
Michael J. PetrilliAs a national education player, the American Federation of Teachers has been careful not to bash No Child Left Behind too overtly. It even calls its NCLB site "Let's Get It Right" (not, say, "Throw NCLB Under the Bus").
Food for thought
Michael J. PetrilliLess-than-humble Liam isn't willing to acknowledge the significance of the recent
Help wanted
The logistical problems with the "Academic Freedom Act," which is traipsing merrily through the Florida legislature, are legion. The pope's U.S.
Mao was 30 percent wrong
Coby LoupIn Sunday's New York Times, Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, seeks to correct what he thinks may be a popularly-held hunch that China's growing class of educated urbanites will soon pressure the Chinese government to reform.
Vouching for Wikipedia
National Review's John J. Miller recently wrote a portion of our Catholic schools report.
Johnny-come-lately
Michael J. PetrilliFor months we've observed John McCain's general lack of interest in education. That appears to be starting to change.
Belt tightening
In Florida, where a state income tax is verboten, the housing crisis has had a particularly damaging effect on state revenues. Education is being hit hard. Piling on, today the St. Petersburg Times reports that "lackluster lottery sales" will hurt school budgets even more.
Urban catholic schools face a crisis, not extinction
Michael J. PetrilliThere's more coverage of Fordham's Catholic schools report today, including a front-page
Priority number 11
Michael J. PetrilliNo, it's not good that the "financial know-how" of American high school seniors has "gone from bad to worse." Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is fired up about it:
Fifth-grade economists
Mike is right: financial literacy is important, but schools can't teach everything. In fact, we wrote as much several months ago in The Gadfly.
Back to the Bedouins
This week's Economist contains a special report on "digital nomadism," the ability to work, and to connect to family or friends, from just about anywhere.
Best ed headline of the day
"Carney releases education plan for Del." Step right up and get??your new??education plan! Public schools, private schools--everyone's a winner!
Make Catholic schools free, too
Michael J. PetrilliOver at CATO, Andrew Coulson blogs about our Catholic schools
More on financial literacy
Eric OsbergMike has a fair point that schools can't do everything. He might have added that it's hard to picture most high school teachers being able to confidently explain variable interest rates or balloon payments, or any students bothering to listen.
Discipline in black and white
Why is it necessary to measure student behavior by race? Test scores are in this way disaggregated to prevent schools from ignoring struggling low-income and minority students, who in the past were often written-off as beyond hope.
Saving Catholic schools
Fordham's new Catholic schools report, released today, is here. USA Today covers it here.
Re: More dented cars
Coby writes: Many KIPP schools are better than most urban schools because they alleviate more of the burdens of poverty. There should be more such schools.
Idol gives back... to the past?
Michael J. PetrilliI'll admit to watching some of last night's Hollywood-glitzy American Idol Gives Back show.
Textbooks
National Review's Phi Beta Cons blog is engaged in discussion of the same topic that we are. See here and here.
And another one
Via The Gradebook: Florida could be next to join the American Diploma Project, which Fordham helped develop several years ago.
This Week's Fordham Factor: Catholic schools
Mike and Christina discuss Fordham's latest report, Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools? httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAzVVeX34g8
Making a Difference?: The Effects of Teach For America in High School
Coby LoupZeyu Xu, Jane Hannaway, Colin TaylorThe Urban Institute and the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education ResearchMarch 27, 2008
Spin Cycle: How Research is Used in Policy Debates: The Case of Charter Schools
Jeffrey R. Henig2008
Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Christopher Gergen and Gregg VanourekJossey-Bass 2008
Saving Catholic schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Michael J. PetrilliSince 1990, some 300,000 children have been displaced from Catholic schools that closed during this period--twice as many as were impacted by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Most of these youngsters live in America's inner cities, most are poor, and their beloved schools closed not because of physical destruction or flooding, not because of poor performance, but for lack of funding.