Longitudinal Assessment of Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes: First-Year Report
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Naida C. Tushnet et al., WestEdDecember 2004
Texas Roundup: Charter Schooling in the Lone Star State
Nelson Smith, Progressive Policy InstituteFebruary 2005
Buried Treasure: Developing a Management Guide From Mountains of School Data
Eric OsbergCenter on Reinventing Public EducationMary Beth Celio and James HarveyJanuary 2005
The blind men return
Conference after summit after symposium on high school reform have been held already this year (see Checker's editorial, "The Blind Men and the High School" for a laundry list of potential reforms). This week, Achieve and the National Governors Association chime in.
The Department of Education responds
Michael J. PetrilliWe appreciate the attention given to the U.S. Department of Education's priority published in the Federal Register on January 25 related to scientifically-based evaluation ("Science and nonscience: The limits of scientific research," February 17).
Philanthropies on the move
In a recent roundtable discussion excerpted in Philanthropy magazine, Kaleem Caire (project director at Fight for Children, Inc., and a mover/shaker in the District of Columbia's school choice movement) and Phoebe Boyer (executive director of the Tiger Foundation in New York City) provide perceptive insights on how philanthropies in those cities are driving education reforms.
Saving Catholic schools for everybody
Diane RavitchThese are interesting observations by Justin Torres. It may be true that in voucher cities, Catholic schools educate large numbers of non-Catholic children. And he is right to ask about their reason for existence if they are not educating Catholic children in the Catholic faith.
Saving Catholic schools for whom?
Last week, the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced that 26 Catholic schools will be closed in Brooklyn and Queens, about 15 percent of what was once a thriving parochial school system in those boroughs. Days later, the Archdiocese of New York announced it will close six schools in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Just saying no to testing
Anti-testing types have taken up the cause of Mia Kang, a 14-year-old Texan who defied teachers and counselors and turned in a little essay announcing her opposition to standardized testing instead of completing a mandated practice TAKS test. She has vowed not to participate in the real thing this spring, even at the risk of not graduating from high school.
They'll pry my Pixie Sticks from my cold, dead hands
Gadfly has seen education fads come and go and rarely comments on them, life being too short for trivia and nonsense.