Terrorists are to witches as&
Just as TIME reported that the College Board plans to drop the analogies section from the SAT, education blogger Joanne Jacobs recounts a story about a Kennewick, Washington high school teacher who, after a lesson on the Salem Witch Trials, asked his students to write a "Mass Hysteria Essay" in which they "expose injustices caused by mass hysteria" and "compare the causes and effects o
Setting a low bar for highly qualified teachers
No Child Left Behind requires that, by 2005-6, all classes must be taught by "highly qualified" teachers. That means a teacher must have a college degree, state certification, and demonstrated mastery of the subject s/he teaches. But as with many NCLB provisions, it's up to the states to set their own benchmarks for certification and subject-area mastery.
Faced with stiff penalties, teachers vote to end strike
We recently reported on a group of resourceful students and parents in Marysville, Washington who lobbied the governor, held a press conference, and went to court to try to get their teachers to end the longest teachers strike in state history.
Federal grants support teachers, charters and choice
To help states comply with the highly-qualified teacher and school-choice provisions of NCLB, the Department of Education recently awarded more than $13 million in grants to several organizations to help attract able professionals into teaching, to inform families of their educational options under NCLB, and to expand and study charter school achievement.
Who needs school boards?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Eighteen long years ago, Denis Doyle and I wrote this in the New York Times:
Who put test makers and newsweeklies in charge?
With application deadlines looming, popular magazines have recently devoted much space to college admissions. TIME's cover story this week highlights changes the College Board has made to the new SAT, noting that it is "an exhaustive revision largely intended to mold the U.S.
Final Test: The Battle for Adequacy in America's Schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Peter Schrag, The New Press2003
The Quantum Opportunity Program Demonstration: Implementation and Short-Term Impacts
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Myles Mayfield, Allen Schirm, and Ruria Rodriguez-Planas, Mathematica Policy Research August 2003
Administrative Costs of Education Voucher Programs
Carolyn ConnerPaul T. Hill, Center on Reinventing Public Education September 2003
The Economics of School Choice
Eric OsbergCaroline M. Hoxby, editor, National Bureau of Economic Research2003
What New "AYP" Information Tells us About Schools, States, and Public Education
Carolyn ConnerDaria Hall, Ross Wiener, and Kevin Carey, Education Trust2003
The politics of foreign policy funding
A few weeks ago, New York Times columnist David Brooks penned an editorial in which he talked about academe's not-so-subtle bias against center-right or conservative viewpoints [see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=117#1474].
Seeds of hope
The latest in Jay Mathews's Washington Post series on innovative teachers features Rafe Esquith, a middle school teacher in Los Angeles who has created an oasis of excellence inside his educationally arid public school.
Show them what they've won!
The European Union, in what Gadfly can only call a retrograde move, recently awarded a grant to a school in Italy that teaches young Italian women the skills they need to become game show hosts and showgirls.
Charter challenges all over
Life is getting harder for charter schools and those seeking to start them. In Massachusetts, word comes this week that new charter applications are down more than 50 percent--just 14, compared to 35 last year.
A new investment in school choice?
Alexander RussoEarlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a somewhat unusual addition to its K-12 portfolio: nearly $19 million over five years to expand the "Cristo Rey" schools nationwide.On the surface, this announcement appeared to be no more than a new element in the $450 million Gates Foundation effort to promote
Are school-choice funders wasting their money?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Observing Congressional vote-counting for the beleaguered D.C. voucher bill, one of America's sagest observers of the school choice scene asked the other day if I had noticed that the tireless and costly grass-roots efforts of innumerable pro-choice organizations seem to be having absolutely no effect on the willingness of individual Senators and Representatives to vote for the measure?
Unions fight virtual academy
Education Minnesota, the state teachers' union, filed suit on Thursday to shut down the Minnesota Virtual Academy, an online school that is a partnership between a small Minnesota school district and K12, the online curriculum provider founded by former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett.
Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities
Chester E. Finn, Jr.YMCA, Dartmouth Medical School and the Institute for American Values2003
Determinants of Student Achievement: New Evidence from San Diego
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Julian R. Betts and PPIC's Andrew C. Zau and Lorien A. Rice, Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)2003
Citizenship: A Challenge for All Generations
Carolyn ConnerKarl T. Kurtz, Alan Rosenthal, and Cliff Zukin, National Conference of State LegislaturesSeptember 2003
Keeping Count and Losing Count: Calculating Graduation Rates for all Students Under NCLB Accountability
Eric OsbergChristopher B. Swanson, Education Policy Center, The Urban InstituteAugust 2003
Improving Teaching and Learning by Improving School Leadership
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Christopher Mazzeo, National Governors Association's Center for Best PracticesSeptember 2003.
Noticias excitantes para la reforma de educacion
We welcome a new player on the education-choice team, the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, or Hispanic CREO. The group was launched today at the National Press Club, with a follow-up conference in Washington and the release of a new study on Hispanic students and choice, authored by Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute.
Sad state of service
The latest issue of National Review contains a special section on education, featuring Victor Davis Hanson (a contributor to Fordham's recent publication Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know) on the Iraq War and college campuses.
Children, seen and heard
In August, the Marysville, Washington school superintendent refused to comply with 30 union demands, including across-the-board raises that would have cost the district $14 million. And so, on September 1st - the first day of school, chosen to cause maximum chaos - Marysville teachers began what is about to become the longest strike in the state's history.
New college try
Standardized tests may be under attack in America but they turn out to be a godsend for Russian parents. That nation's college entrance exams, relics of the Communist era, are specific to each university and usually involve professors drilling applicants in an oral exam.
Are unions accountable, too?
Chester E. Finn, Jr."If men were angels," Madison wrote in Federalist #51, "no government would be necessary."