Texas pressured to lower the bar on new high school graduation test
Students in the Lone Star state's class of 2005 - today's 10th graders - will have to pass the new Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in order to graduate from high school. A report released by the Texas Education Agency earlier this month indicates that more than 53 percent of students will have trouble passing the test and risk being denied a diploma.
Publicity, training critical to success of NCLB school report cards
I enjoyed Checker's recent piece on school report cards. [See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=31#438] But he neglected two big issues: First, the need for huge amounts of PUBLICITY to make parents aware that these report cards even exist.
Reinventing education, IBM-style
A recent article in The World & I examines how computer giant IBM's massive Reinventing Education initiative - which seeks to bring classroom-and school-level successes to scale - is transforming not only the company's culture, but also the way teachers do their jobs.
Counting our blessings
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As readers may have noticed, these "desk" messages tend toward the crotchety and Cassandra-ish. That's because we see plenty still not working well in U.S.
D.C. teachers union leaders alleged to have enriched selves to the tune of $2 million
FBI agents have seized fur coats, alligator shoes, a $57,000 Tiffany tea set, a $13,000 plasma TV set, and hundreds of other luxury items from the homes and offices of the former president of the Washington (D.C) Teachers' Union and her assistant as part of an investigation into the disappearance of over $2 million in union funds over the past several years.
What's next for school choice?
This month's issue of "&ize," the Institute for Justice's monthly compilation of media clips - features a case study on the future of school choice. Included are scads of news articles from the past year - many that you've seen but also some you may have missed - that document where the school choice movement has been and where it's going. A handy volume for any reformer's bookshelf.
A Decade of Public Charter Schools: Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program: 2000-2001 Evaluation Report
Terry RyanU.S. Department of EducationNovember 2002
The Six Habits of Fiscally Responsible Public School Districts
Eric OsbergKirk A. Johnson, Ph.D., and Elizabeth H. MoserMackinac Center for Public PolicyDecember 2002
The Kids That E.C.O.T. Taught: The Pioneers of America's E-Schooling Revolution
Terry RyanBill Lager2002
Papers on knowledge- and skills-based teacher pay
Allison ColeConsortium for Education Policy Research2002
Comprehensive School Reform and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Geoffrey Borman, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, Johns Hopkins UniversityNovember 2002
The twelve years of NCLB
Chester E. Finn, Jr.In the first year of NCLB, my Uncle (Sam) gave to meA law based on A.Y.P.
No alternative diploma in Massachusetts
Your recent report [see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=31#442] on the vote of the Massachusetts Board of Education to endorse standards for a "certificate of attainment" might leave your readers with the impression that we have established an alternative diploma. We have not.
NYC schools chancellor to award top principals battle pay
Chancellor Joel Klein says that New York City's best principals will get up to $75,000 in bonus pay if they agree to work for three years with a principal-in-training in a failing school.
Pennsylvania's education secretary throws in the towel
Charles Zogby has resigned as Pennsylvania's Education Secretary, leaving behind a legacy of controversial but sensible and far-reaching reforms. Among many other accomplishments, Zogby and his predecessor, Eugene Hickok, now U.S.
Philly school system overwhelms top suburban principal
A successful suburban principal with thirty years' experience - a woman hired to work miracles - has crashed and burned after only four months as principal of a troubled Philadelphia elementary school that's now managed by Edison Schools.
Racial distrust and school reform
Step back from the furor over Trent Lott's recent statement and observe how the episode itself opens a window onto the legacy of distrust that has characterized African-American views of conservatives and Republicans since the civil rights era.This distrust has shaped public policy on many fronts but perhaps nowhere as profoundly as in K-12 education.
SOL study tool earns rave reviews from kids
Virginia third-graders are having a blast while studying for the Standards of Learning (SOL) exams thanks to SOLAR, a computer software program designed by Lockheed Martin Corp. When students answer SOL-like questions correctly, the program rewards them with exciting graphics and sound effects reminiscent of a video game.
Massachusetts grants MCAS waivers
Massachusetts has granted appeals to roughly 200 students who demonstrated-via good grades, stellar attendance, teacher recommendations, and having taken part in MCAS tutoring-that they knew enough to graduate despite thrice failing at least one section of the state exit test by a narrow margin.
A League Table of Educational Disadvantage in Rich Nations
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Innocenti Research Centre, UNICEFNovember 2002
Class Warfare: Besieged Schools, Bewildered Parents, Betrayed Kids and the Attack on Excellence
Chester E. Finn, Jr.J. Martin RochesterNovember 2002
Effects of Funding Incentives on Special Education Enrollment
Kelly ScottJay P. Greene and Greg Forster, Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan InstituteDecember 2002
What Large-Scale, Survey Research Tells Us About Teacher Effects on Student Achievement: Insights From the Prospects Study of Elementary Schools
Allison ColeBrian Rowan, Richard Correnti, and Robert J. Miller, Consortium for Policy Research in EducationNovember 2002
The Principal Challenge: Leading and Managing Schools in an Era of Accountability
Terry Ryanedited by Marc S. Tucker and Judy B. Codding2002
Rallying the troops for choice in DC
Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Sol Stern recently called upon President Bush, come January, to seize his "unprecedented opportunity" to create a pilot voucher program for poor kids trapped in the District of Columbia's dismal schools.
Rural school choice
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Among the predictable questions that arise during just about every discussion of school choice is one along these lines: "We live in a rural community and there's no other school within forty miles. How could school choice possibly benefit our children?
States struggling to comply with NCLB, survey shows
States are edging closer to compliance with No Child Left Behind but are a long way off in some areas, according to an Education Week survey conducted for the paper's forthcoming (January '03) Quality Counts 2003 report.
Colleges searching for presidents beyond the ivory tower
Although still a minority at roughly twelve percent, college presidents hired from outside traditional academic circles have doubled in number in recent years according to a new study by the American Council on Education (ACE).
DC, New York tackle school transfers
In a move aimed at bringing the Big Apple into compliance with NCLB, Chancellor Joel Klein announced this week that students may transfer from continually failing schools to better ones anywhere in the city instead of being limited to choices within their local districts.