The Effects of Town Tuitioning in Vermont and Maine
Katherine SomervilleChristopher W. Hammons, Milton & Rose D. Friedman FoundationFebruary 2002
Adoption and Adaptation: New York State School Districts' Responses to State Imposed High School Graduation Requirements: An Eight-Year Retrospective
Chester E. Finn, Jr.David Monk, John W. Sipple and Kieran Killeen, New York State Educational Finance Research ConsortiumSeptember 10, 2001
Test protests thinning out in Massachusetts
Opponents of high-stakes testing in Massachusetts are running out of time to convince a public that has largely accepted testing and academic standards, according to reporter Ed Hayward of the Boston Herald.
New teacher of the year went from the trenches to the classroom
President Bush introduced the 2002 teacher of the year-a retired Army colonel from southern California-at a Rose Garden ceremony yesterday.
Can state standards & market-based reforms be reconciled?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Both standards-based and market-style reforms come from outside the system but they follow different theories and many people believe they are incompatible.
Charter schools spark positive changes in Dayton
What effect do charter schools have on school districts as a whole? Do they inspire improvements in regular district schools or merely drain money from the district's budget?
Alignment Among Secondary and Post-Secondary Assessment in Five Case Study States
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Vi-Nhuan Le, RAND Corporation2002
Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Achievement
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Devotees of professional development for teachers will be interested in this thoughtful paper by Harvard education professor Richard F. Elmore, published by the Albert Shanker Institute.
Quality Teachers: Can Incentive Policies Make a Difference?
Terry RyanLynn Cornett and Gale Gaines, Southern Regional Education Board2002
Rankings & Estimates. Rankings of the States 2001 and Estimates of School Statistics 2002
Chester E. Finn, Jr.National Education Association2002
Charter Schools in New York: A New Choice in Public Education
Kelly ScottCharter Schools Institute, State University of New YorkMarch 2002
Parents protest income-based integration
San Francisco made headlines last year when it announced that it would begin integrating some schools on the basis of income. This year, the school board in Cambridge, Massachusetts voted to do the same thing. Many experts are excited about this new strategy for diversifying schools, particularly since courts have begun to limit the use of race in student assignments.
The war on charter schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.I'm not prone to paranoia but lately I see an awful lot of folks bent on stopping the charter movement dead in its tracks and I also see them making much headway. I don't think it exaggerates to say that a war is being waged against charter schools. As with many wars, however, both sides have something to answer for.
Will teenagers connect with higher standards?
Researchers believe that teenagers who feel "connected" at school are less likely to be violent or suicidal, to abuse drugs or to get pregnant. A major study released last week tried to identify features of schools where teenagers are likely to feel connected.
Taking Charge: Urban High School Students Speak Out About MCAS, Academics and Extra-Help Programs
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Mass Insight EducationMarch 2002
Coming of Age in the 1990s: The Eighth Grade Class of 1988 12 Years Later
Chester E. Finn, Jr.National Center for Education StatisticsMarch 2002
Designing School Accountability Systems: Towards a framework and process
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Brian Gong, Council of Chief State School OfficersJanuary 2002
Scientific Research in Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.edited by Richard J. Shavelson and Lisa Towne, National Research Council Committee on Scientific Principles for Education Research, National Academy of Science2002
Title I: Education Needs to Monitor States' Scoring of Assessments
Chester E. Finn, Jr.General Accounting OfficeApril 2002
The battle over testing and drill-based instruction, up close and personal
James Traub visits the front lines in the class war over standardized testing in a cover story in this week's New York Times Magazine. First he reports from a low-achieving school in Mount Vernon, New York, where he observes "test preparation with a vengeance," but, he notes, test prep that seems to work.
Japanese schools cut back to five-day week
Over the objections of parents and local officials, the Japanese government announced last week that the school week would be scaled back to five days, with the curriculum pared back as well. See "Public Schools Start 5-day Week," Yomiuri Shimbun, April 6, 2002.
A good middle school is hard to find
Which are in worse shape, high schools or middle schools? Jay Mathews writes that one thing he has learned from talking to parents for the past 20 years is that "there are no good middle schools," even in the wealthiest neighborhoods. But a small group of schools being launched under the KIPP banner may be changing that.
Are AP classes losing their luster?
High school Advanced Placement (AP) classes have long been viewed as the gold standard for secondary education, something that more high schools should offer and more students, especially disadvantaged students, should avail themselves of. But this respected program has taken some hits in recent months, according to an article in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.
When is a small high school a good one?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.There's wide agreement that U.S. high schools urgently need reforming, due to their dismaying drop out rates, paltry test scores and the testimony of employers and college professors that their graduates are ill-prepared for adult challenges. There is also wide agreement that the sprawling "comprehensive" high school devised by James B.
San Diego's Big Boom: District Bureaucracy Supports Culture of Learning
Terry RyanAmy M. Hightower, Center for the Study of Teaching and PolicyJanuary 2002
Are Increasing Test Scores in Texas Really a Myth, or is Haney's Myth a Myth?
Kelly ScottLaurence A. Toenjes and A. Gary Dworkin, Education Policy Analysis ArchivesMarch 21, 2002
High-Stakes Testing, Uncertainty, and Student Learning
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Audrey Amrein and David Berliner, Education Policy Analysis ArchivesMarch 28, 2002
Revolution at the Margins: The Impact of Competition on Urban School Systems
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Frederick M. Hess2002