Every Child Reading: A Professional Development Guide
Charles R. Hokanson, Jr.Learning First Alliance
Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment
Chester E. Finn, Jr.National Academy of Sciences
Measuring What Matters: Using Assessment and Accountability to Improve Student Learning
Committee for Economic Development
Ignoring the Lessons from Cinderella School Districts
Diane RavitchOn May 23, 2001, the New York Times ran three major stories demonstrating cognitive dissonance about educational approaches. On the front page, we learned about Ms. Moffett, a first-year teacher assigned to a low-performing school who is extremely frustrated because she is required to follow lesson plans instead of doing what she wants, which is to demonstrate her creativity.
Clearing up the confusion over testing
Crack education journalist Jay Matthews reacted to anti-testing articles in a thoughtful column appearing only in the electronic version of the Washington Post.
Direct Instruction and the Teaching of Early Reading: Wisconsin's Teacher-Led Insurgency, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Fans of "direct instruction," and those who would like to learn more about it, will want to examine this new report from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. It was catalyzed by three facts: (a) Direct Instruction, properly done, is a teaching method (and curriculum) that is known to be effective, particularly with younger children and especially in reading.
New York City's Public Schools: The Facts About Spending and Performance
Kelly Scottby Emanuel Tobier (Manhattan Institute, May 2001)
Lies and Distortions: The Campaign Against School Vouchers
Kelly AmisBy Howard Fuller, PhD and Kaleem Caire.
Adequate Yearly What?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As I write, the House of Representatives has just completed floor action on the education bill and the Senate is expected to return to it soon. The Senate has a bunch more amendments to consider, some of them important, some of them even germane.
Fixing Special Education Will Take More than Just Money
In a sideshow to the main debate over ESEA, the Senate passed an amendment on May 3 that would add $18.1 billion to the federal budget for special education over the next 10 years and would change special ed funding into an entitlement that Congress would be required to fund regardless of budget considerations. This measure has drawn criticism from the White House and others for not addre
Bullying, Violence, Zero Tolerance, and Dodge Ball
Thirty percent of students surveyed in grades 6 through 10 have been involved in either bullying or being bullied themselves, according to a study released by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) earlier this month.
Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps: Reporting Progress Toward Goals for Academic Achievement.
The redoubtable Paul Barton, formerly of the Educational Testing Service, prepared this March 2001 report for the National Education Goals Panel. Based on NAEP data, it seeks to track and explain state-level performance trends. He's done some interesting "quartile analysis" as well as taken a close look at minority/white achievement gaps.
Great City Schools
The Council of the Great City Schools deserves plaudits for its ever-greater willingness to speak candidly about educational achievement (as well as its vigorous efforts to boost that achievement).
Can outsiders revitalize urban school districts?
Can a new breed of superintendents--drawn from outside the ranks of traditional educators--transform urban school systems?
Fourth Grade Reading
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recently released the results of the 4th grade reading assessment conducted in 2000. (By NAEP standards, alas, this is speedy: data available just a year after the test was given!) The news is not good: average scores were essentially flat across the 1990's.
Real Results, Remaining Challenges: The Story of Texas Education Reform
Kelly Scottby Craig Jerald, the Education Trust (published by the Business Roundtable)
One Day, All Children & The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I Learned Along the Way
Like many skillful leaders whose successes throw them before the public's eye, Wendy Kopp has her share of detractors, including some within the ranks of the unique teaching corps she created.
Just How Bad is the Education Bill?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.White House aides have grown testy about the education bill, unwilling to acknowledge that the compromises Congress has forced upon it have sorely weakened George W. Bush's fine reform plan. Presumably because they assented to those compromises, they feel obliged to insist that the plan remains largely intact.Would that it were so.
Are Today's High School Graduates Ready?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The Education Trust's newsletter, Thinking K-16, is usually worth a look. The Winter 2001 issue is especially fine, being devoted almost entirely to a careful but exceptionally lucid discussion of U.S. high school results during the period since the Nation at Risk report of 1983 and the declaration of national education goals in 1989. How have we fared?
TIMSS 1999 Benchmarking Achievement Reports
The Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) made quite a splash in the U.S. when its 1995 results came out, mostly because it showed American kids sorely under-performing their counterparts in many other lands in math and science, especially in the upper grades.
Professionalism and the Public Good: A Brief History of Teacher Certification
Jeffrey Mirel, David L. AngusWhy does our system of teacher certification emphasize training in pedagogy rather than subject-matter knowledge? The answer can be found in this report, which traces the emergence of state control over teacher certification. The focus is on efforts by the teacher education establishment to gain monopoly control over the licensing of teachers.
Education 2001: Getting the Job Done, A Memorandum to the President-Elect and the 107th Congress
Michael J. Petrilli, Chester E. Finn, Jr., Marci Kanstoroom, Ph.D., Diane Ravitch, Bruno V. Manno, Kelly AmisPresident Bush campaigned on a strong education-reform platform, promising the American people that for the first time in a long time, commonsense?not special interest groups?would dictate federal education policy. Just before he entered the Oval Office, we handed him a briefing book on steps he could take to help transform the K-12 education system. In this "Memorandum to the President-Elect and the 107th Congress," we explained how the federal government has wasted billions of dollars on ineffective programs and offered suggestions for making continued federal funding matter.
Good Science, Bad Science: Teaching Evolution in the States
Lawrence S. LernerMore than one-third of the states get low grades for the standards they have developed for teaching evolution, according to this new report. This report is the first comprehensive analysis of how each state handles evolution in its science standards for the public schools.
Parochial Schools and Public Aid: Today's Catholic Schools
Christopher ConnellHow much government aid do parochial schools and their students actually receive? Connell finds that public aid flows to church-affiliated schools through many channels, though amounts vary greatly from state to state. This report is especially timely in light of the Supreme Court's important decision upholding government aid to religious schools.
Can Philanthropy Fix Our Schools? Appraising Walter Annenberg's $500 Million Gift to Public Education
Carol Innerst, Alexander Russo, Raymond DomanicoAccording to this new study, Ambassador Annenberg's gift has left only small footprints on the urban school systems it set out to reform. Good intentions and a generous checkbook were not enough to transform troubled urban schools. This report includes case studies of New York (by Raymond Domanico), Chicago (by Alexander Russo) and Philadelphia (by Carol Innerst) and an afterword by Chester E.Finn Jr. and Marci Kanstoroom.
Politicizing Science Education
Paul GrossScience as a search for truth has come under attack from both the left and the right. This report explores four case studies of threats to the integrity of science education.
Why Education Experts Resist Effective Practices (And What It Would Take to Make Education More Like Medicine)
Douglas CarnineEducation experts tend to ignore research-based practices like Direct Instruction and instead embrace constructivist methods that are not backed by good research. This report by Douglas Carnine explains why.