Displaying 1-30 of 41 results
Commentary
9.29.2004

The harm done by textbook adoption

Diane Ravitch

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.

Commentary
9.29.2004

Scientific illiteracy among the education elite

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.

Commentary
9.29.2004

Charter achievement redux

Caroline Hoxby recaps the Great Charter Debate (or should we call it Ambush?) of 2004 in the Wall Street Journal this week.

Commentary
9.29.2004

A third way on social promotion

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. . . .

Commentary
9.29.2004

The White House speaks!

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.

Commentary
9.29.2004

UK inches toward merit pay

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.

Commentary
9.29.2004

We won't say we told you so, but. . . .

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

Report
9.29.2004
Curriculum & Instruction

The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Diane Ravitch

Statewide textbook adoption, the process by which 21 states dictate the textbooks that schools and districts can use, is fundamentally flawed. It distorts the market, entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, enriches the textbook cartel, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials that cannot fulfill their important education mission. Tinkering with it won't set it right, concludes this latest Fordham Institute report. Legislators and governors in adoption states should eliminate the process, letting individual schools, individual districts, or even individual teachers choose their own textbooks.

Commentary
9.22.2004

Round 4

Andrew J. Rotherham

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.

Commentary
9.22.2004

Reform on the line in Washington State

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.

Commentary
9.22.2004

Liberals? What liberals?

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.

Commentary
9.22.2004

2004 Broad prize for urban education

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.

Commentary
9.22.2004

A renaissance in the Windy City?

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.

Commentary
9.22.2004

When standing still is moving backward

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.

Commentary
9.15.2004

Bush v. Kerry, round 3

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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.

Commentary
9.15.2004

Teacher policy follies: ten top errors

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

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.

Commentary
9.15.2004

Happy ending for the CCA kids

The unfortunate saga of the California Charter Academy, closed for various improprieties last month (click here and here for more), has something like a happy ending.

Commentary
9.15.2004

It's the achievement gap, stupid!

Ask most parents to rate the American education system compared to the rest of the industrialized world, and they'd no doubt tell you it is second to none.

Commentary
9.15.2004

NCLB trifecta

The American Enterprise Institute's Frederick M. Hess and our own Checker Finn have three new and overlapping analyses of the No Child Left Behind Act, with particular reference to that law's accountability and choice provisions.