Rhetoric versus Reality: What We Know and What We Need to Know About Vouchers and Charter Schools
Terry RyanBrian P. Gill, P. Michael Timpane, Karen E. Ross and Dominic J. Brewer, RAND, 2001
Civic Education: Readying Massachusetts' Next Generation of Citizens
Chester E. Finn, Jr.David E. Campbell, Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, September 2001
The story behind puzzling dropout figures
A recent study by the Manhattan Institute's Jay Greene (High School Graduation Rates in the United States) shone a spotlight on the enormous number of students who disappear from school attendance rolls between 8th grade and 12th grade but aren't counted in any official dropout statistics.
Research-based practices less popular than social engineering in some fields
It's not only in the world of education research that ideology sometimes trumps scientific evidence; the folks who study drug-prevention programs for children can be hostile to research-based practices as well.
Generation gap among teachers argues for flexibility in the profession
The teachers who have worked their way to the top of today's education system were hired at a time when fewer professional opportunities were open to all and when choosing a lifelong career was the norm. By contrast, today's new teaching candidates have many attractive career options and very different expectations about career mobility and job security.
Enron's collapse and school accountability
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As Enron, the giant energy company, plummeted toward bankruptcy from its one-time market value of $80 billion, business and finance experts bestirred themselves to try to explain what had gone wrong and what lessons could be drawn from this corporate calamity.One such account appeared in the December 4 Wall Street Journal in the form of a perceptive op ed by Joe Berardino, managin
Troubling lessons in Palestinian textbooks
In last week's Gadfly, we reported on efforts by the government of Pakistan to rein in some state-funded Islamic schools that breed extremism and violence and provide incentives for teaching modern subjects like science, math, computers, and English. Hopefully these efforts to promote liberal education in Pakistan will be more sincere than they have been in the schools run by the P
Why the new ESEA testing requirement will fuel school finance litigation
Why are school finance litigators jumping for joy over the imminent passage of President Bush's education plan? In the December Washington Monthly, Siobhan Gorman explains that the detailed test scores that will eventually emerge from the plan - which requires that states annually test students in grades 3 through 8 in reading and math - will be a "potential bonanza" for lawyers ho