Would a Republican Congress be good for school reform?
Note: This editorial, by Checker Finn and me, will run in today's Education Gadfly.
Note: This editorial, by Checker Finn and me, will run in today's Education Gadfly.
At least that's one interpretation, as their brand-new Pledge to America contains neither the word ?education? nor ?school.? More thoughts on this later, but really guys? How many pollsters need to tell you that just talking about the subject is good for your numbers?
As kids, growing up in the wilds of Oregon, one of our favorite sports was King of the Mountain (I warn you, don't go Googling that one). It was a spontaneous thing that started when one of the pack of roaming young ruffians leapt on to some high ground ? a log, a pile of dirt, a mound of rocks ? and declared, ?King of the Mountain!??
Textbooks are in the news this week: in college, kids save money by renting instead of buying, and in Texas, kids?
?Visitors see smart, driven, caring teachers in every classroom and ask us all the time: How do you do it? The answer: culture.'' ?Deborah Kenny, Founder and CEO of Harlem Village Academies
Rand Paul, who is running to represent Kentucky in the U.S. Senate, wants to end the federal Department of Education. The Lexington Herald-Leader doesn't like the idea. ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
The Nation has a long review of the soon-to-be-released education documentary Waiting for ?Superman.' ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
Fresh thinking on improving the teaching profession
Charter and district teachers aren't so different, after all
Value-added measures have their place but are no panacea
A little teacher quality info goes a long way
Hubris alert! We don't have it all figured out yet
It isn't perfect, but it's well-worth the watch
As China calls for education innovation, Oprah takes matters into her own hands
A party in search of a platform
Far be it from me to take on Nicholas Lemann ? former Managing Editor of the Washington Monthly, former staff reporter for the Washington Post, staff writer for The New Yorker, author of The Big Test (about the SATs), and current dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism ? but?.
Whitney Tilson, commenting on yesterday's New York Times story on the plan to close Catholic schools, has it about right:
Want to mentor a child? Plan on sticking around for awhile. At least ?till they make it to college.
?Suppose for a minute that the child care industry were as well organized as the teacher's union, do you think that preschool would be considered such an unquestionably good public investment?? ?Rob Manwaring, Senior Policy Analyst at Education Sector
?Closing the Talent Gap,? a new report from McKinsey & Company, uses data to usefully describe ideas we already know, specifically that:
Hubris alert! My friends in the education reform community are feeling triumphant, now that Waiting for Superman is about to hit the theaters with its ?to the barricades? message. Count me as worried; just consider what happened to Adrian Fenty when he got over-confident and morally righteous.
McKinsey just released its much-awaited report, Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top third graduates to a career in teaching. To those of us in the education world the findings aren't a total surprise?
Catholic schools are back in the news as the New York Diocese prepares for what the Times is calling an ?aggressive effort to close or consolidate elementary schools?? ? as many as 30 of the 216 in the system, reports the Times.
?The nation's approach to teaching reading is analogous to a builder laying the foundation of a house, but not following through to assist with the walls, windows, doors, and roof.? ?Bob Wise, President of Alliance for Excellent Education
To grab your attention: maybe we don't really live in a left brain/right brain world.
. . . to attend college. So says the College Board in a study released today that finds, according to the New York Times, that ?the pay premium for those with bachelor's degrees has grown substantially in recent years.?
On the Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog, Anthony Cody, a longtime science teacher, offers some words of warning to Democrats:
Earlier this week, Policy Matters Ohio released a report on charter school accountability, the main finding of which is that when charter schools are operated by management organizations, for-profit and non-profit alike, too often the management organizations are running the show, not the independent boards that
Though it is named after a nearby creek that is thought to mean, in the language of the Lenni Lenape First Nation, ?place where we drink twice,? teachers in the Neshaminy School District, a Bucks County district somewhere between Trenton and Philly, have apparently drunk from something other than the creek.