Clean start
In Washington, D.C., school success is measured by the most basic of yardsticks. This year, for example, all 146 schools in the District opened on time, and almost all of them had the supplies they needed.
In Washington, D.C., school success is measured by the most basic of yardsticks. This year, for example, all 146 schools in the District opened on time, and almost all of them had the supplies they needed.
Bob Herbert can usually be counted on to dispense columns that are either off-base or banal. His latest piece is certainly banal (check out the title); but it's none too credible, either, because Herbert is calling for a "wholesale transformation of the public school system" that, were some politician to actually advance it, he, yes he, Herbert, would surely denounce.
We know that schools and school systems share a lot in common with businesses. Do they also resemble nations?
Gadfly now reads--courtesy of the Columbus Dispatch, a public-records request, and the Ohio Alliance of Public Charter Schools--that indeed Attorney General Marc Dann was doing the teacher union's bidding when he (a) settled out of court an ill-conceived NEA lawsuit against charter schools (that he likely would have won if it had gone to trial) and (b) tackled low-p
Robin J. Lake, Progressive Policy InstituteSeptember 2004
Bryan C. Hassel, Progressive Policy InstituteSeptember 21, 2004
Cheri Pierson Yecke, Ph.D., Center of the American ExperimentSeptember 22, 2004
The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption, released today by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, is a splendid survey of what's wrong with textbooks today and how they went awry. The main problem besetting textbooks, we know, is their quality.
As any education researcher will tell you, conducting a "scientific" study of educational programs or practices is difficult at best, primarily because so many factors contribute to pupil achievement, including students' previous knowledge, teacher quality, the degree of parental and community support, etc.
Caroline Hoxby recaps the Great Charter Debate (or should we call it Ambush?) of 2004 in the Wall Street Journal this week.
The New York Times this week featured a column by Arthur Levine (often a sensible fellow, despite being president of Teachers College) outlining a "third way" on social promotion. Levine contends that "neither social promotion nor holding back students works. Leaving students back increases their dropout rate. . . .
You've watched Rotherham and Finn duke it out over the Bush administration's record on education. So let's hear from the administration, shall we? This week, the White House released a new "policy book" detailing its education successes and pointing toward future plans.
The British House of Commons education committee recently recommended greater flexibility in teacher pay as a way to combat specific teacher shortages. In particular, they recommend that "super teachers" be given bonuses for working in tough schools, and that schools that face persistent recruiting problems should be able to pay more to entice new teachers.
Last week, Gadfly editorialized that "Putting most of the available energy, political capital, brain power and money into 'helping' districts engage in chartering rather than devoting those (limited) assets to advancing the frontier of independent charter schools: removing caps on their numbers and enrollments, creating
Sylvia A. Allegretto, Sean P. Corcoran and Lawrence Mishel Economic Policy Institute 2004
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education StatisticsSeptember 2004
American Legislative Exchange Council, Andrew T. LeFevreSeptember 22, 2004
Have thoughts you'd like to share with us? Send them to letters @edexcellence.net. And watch this space for more From our Readers as we hear more from you.
Ben Wildavsky, Sourcebooks, Inc.September 2004
How do you keep your revolutionary edge if you become part of the establishment?
Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson has been in the spotlight more than once this year for daring to support initiatives like charter schools, the suspension of teacher pay and class-size initiatives, and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) graduation requirement.
Salon.com offers an against-the-grain article purporting to show that the accepted wisdom about college professors-that they're overwhelmingly liberal and generally vote Democrat-is overstated. This would be fascinating if true, but the piece contradicts itself.
The Broad Foundation announced this week that the Garden Grove Unified School District in Orange County, CA is the winner of its 2004 urban prize for education - the largest and most prestigious such award in public education. Each year, the Foundation awards $1 million in college scholarships to the most outstanding urban school districts in the nation.
In Chicago, teachers' unions and community agitators are howling over Renaissance 2010, Mayor Richard Daley's plan to remake the school system by closing consistently troubled schools, reopening others as charters, and rolling back regulations that stifle education innovation.
Time magazine this week discusses the challenges, benefits, and pitfalls of "grade skipping" - moving extremely gifted students up to a higher grade. Critics have long maintained that moving children, however brilliant, into classes with older students will hurt them socially if not academically.
Sara Mead, Progressive Policy InstituteSeptember 2004
We know you don't want Checker to write the From the Readers section, too! So give him a break. Send YOUR thoughts to [email protected]. And watch this space for more From our Readers as we hear more from you.
Jay Greene and Greg Forster, The Manhattan InstituteSeptember 2004
Caroline M. Hoxby, Harvard University and National Bureau of Economic Research September 2004
Every person in America wants every child in America to have a terrific teacher every year. That much we can assume. Why, then, is it so hard to craft sound policies yielding that universally sought result? Excellent question.