Big Brother and the National Reading Curriculum: How Ideology Trumped Evidence
Richard L. Allington2002
Richard L. Allington2002
The Jacksonville Times offers a depressing look inside Andrew Jackson High School, one of 64 failing Florida schools, revealing a "battle zone of academic frustration" and blame that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
Achieve, Inc.November 2002
California State AuditorNovember 2002
Noting that it's better to raise standards than to back down from a higher benchmark, Texas's board of education approved a motion to set a moderate but rising standard for passing the rigorous new TAKS exam. This replaces the celebrated TAAS test, on which many Lone Star students and schools had bumped against the ceiling.
Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 earned a "D" average on a recent National Geographic survey of geography and current events. Only 13 percent could identify Iraq on a map of the Middle East, and an astonishing 11 percent failed to locate the U.S. on a global map!
Unless you've been wholly absorbed trussing your turkey, you have read of the recent flap concerning Sanford Weill's assistance to Jack Grubman in gaining admission of the latter's twin tykes to the 92nd Street Y's pre-school program in 2000. This ultra-exclusive Upper East Side pre-school program enrolls 175 youngsters and accepts just 65 annually.
Eliminating a major barrier to classroom entry for recent college graduates and career-switchers, the Keystone State's board of education last week voted to deem "qualified" those teachers who receive training from Teach for America and other national alternative programs.
If ever there were a case to be made for allowing principals to hire and fire their staff, Portland's Whittaker Middle School is it. Principal Tom Pickett told The Oregonian that, until a quarter of his current teachers are replaced, pupils in his failing school won't stand much chance of being adequately educated.
Chicago's public schools reaped little reward for their nearly $200 million investment in professional development last year because the money was spent "without any 'overarching strategy' for improving instruction," and without a demand for proof of improvement. So concludes an outside audit.
Checker Finn asked why there is so little humor among educators in America. [See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=35#1480.] Three reasons come to mind.
Four exemplary charter schools in Arizona and North Carolina have been granted national accreditation as part of a pilot program by the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE).