A Nation Reformed? American Education 20 Years after A Nation at Risk
Chester E. Finn, Jr.David T. Gordon, Editor, Harvard Education PressJanuary 2003
School Relationships Foster Success for African American Students
Kathleen Porter-MageeGeorge L. Wimberly, ACT Policy Report2002
Part I: Can Failing Schools Be Fixed
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Even before the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act shot across the sky, many districts and states had embarked upon heroic efforts to identify failing schools and set them right.
Part II: Rethinking Vocational Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.President Bush's 2004 budget previews many worthy education policy reforms, though in most cases the fine print remains to be written. Last week, I applauded the Administration's excellent Head Start initiative (http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=10#350).
Districts promote misinformation on transfer provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act
Parents who call school district offices in New York City to try to transfer their children out of failing schools have a nearly 1 in 2 chance of getting the wrong information, two reporters from the New York Daily News found.
Fordham prizes awarded to three reformers
Anthony Bryk, Paul Peterson, and E.D. Hirsch have won the first annual Fordham prizes for excellence in education, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation announced this week. Bryk and Peterson will split a $25,000 prize for distinguished scholarship while Hirsch will receive his own $25,000 prize for valor.
Latest developments in teacher pay
If you missed the national conference on teacher compensation and evaluation sponsored by CPRE (Consortium for Policy Research in Education) in November 2002, you can now access most of its presentations online.
Alvarado to Leave San Diego
Anthony Alvarado, brought in by Superintendent Alan Bersin to lead a curriculum overhaul in San Diego, will leave the district by September. Bersin called his departure a mutual decision.
U.S. textbooks present rosy view of Islam, critical view of the West
A review of world history textbooks used in U.S. classrooms found that they routinely sanitize the problems of Islam while treating events in Western history and Christianity more critically.
The Worm in the Apple: How the Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Peter BrimelowFebruary 2003
Preserving Principles of Public Education in an Online World
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The Center on Education PolicyNovember 2002
No Dream Denied: A Pledge to America's Children
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The National Commission on Teaching and America's FutureJanuary 2003
Powerful Reforms with Shallow Roots: Improving America's Urban Schools
Terry RyanLarry Cuban and Michael Usdan, editors, Teachers College PressDecember 2002
School Boards: Focus on School Performance, Not Money and Patronage
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Paul Hill, The Progressive Policy InstituteJanuary 2003
What Does the Supreme Court Ruling on Vouchers Mean for School Superintendents?
Eric OsbergClive R. Belfield and Henry M. LevinNational Center for the Study of Privatization in EducationTeachers College, Columbia UniversityDecember 2002
A License to Lead? A New Leadership Agenda for America's Schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Frederick Hess, the Progressive Policy InstituteJanuary 2003
President boosts budget for American history program
While support for many federal agencies will remain flat, President Bush has proposed a large increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities in his FY 2004 budget, with nearly all of the new dollars going to the "We the People" program. Created last year to encourage better understanding of U.S.
Private school vouchers in D.C.?
Kathleen Porter-MageeThis week, the Bush Administration released its proposed multi-trillion dollar federal budget for 2004. Included is $75 million for a new Choice Incentive Fund that would allow the Department of Education to make competitive awards directly to states, local education agencies and community-based non-profit organizations with proven records of securing educational opportunities for children.
Rewriting literature for the NY Regents exam
Last June, the parent of a high school senior in New York City examined reading passages on the state's high-stakes Regents exams and discovered that somebody was sanitizing literary excerpts - doctoring the reading passages by literary greats to make sure that nothing offensive was included.
S&P issues second report on Michigan schools
Standard & Poor's this week released its second comprehensive analysis of Michigan's K-12 education system. The report, reviewing both academic and financial data from districts in the state, covers a five year period: 1996-97 through 2000-01.
Skepticism about ADHD, Ritalin use misplaced
Educators and parents are sometimes blamed for using medications like Ritalin to make overactive kids compliant and faulted for their inability to control their children without chemical assistance.
Head Start Re-Start
Chester E. Finn, Jr.President Bush is in trouble with the Head Start establishment again, if you can believe The Washington Post, whose reporters on this beat seem to have swallowed the view that Head Start is swell and ought not be pushed to do anything different from what it's always done.
Most students still need remediation in Cal State system
California State University officials report that 59 percent of freshman entering the university system this fall needed remediation in math or English, despite ranking in the top third of their high school classes and having a B average in high school.
Affirmative action may reduce faculty diversity
A new book aimed at discovering why there are so few black and Hispanic professors points the finger at undergraduate affirmative action policies that steer minority students to schools where they don't achieve high grades.
The Best of Both Worlds: Blending History and Geography in the K-12 Curriculum
David W. Saxe, David J. Rutherford, Richard G. BoehmGeography plays a crucial role in shaping history, and the study of history provides an important context for students learning geography, but teachers rarely take advantage of the complementary nature of these subjects. This report shows how the study of U.S. history can be enriched by blending geography into the curriculum. The centerpiece is an innovative curriculum framework in which each historical period is supplemented and enriched by the introduction of relevant geography.
Protecting Public Education from Tax Giveaways to Corporations
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The National Education AssociationJanuary 2003
The Limits of Sanctions in Low-Performing Schools: A Study of Maryland and Kentucky Schools on Probation
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Heinrich Mintrop, Education Policy Analysis ArchivesJanuary 15, 2003
Grand Theft Education: Wasteful Education Spending in California
Eric OsbergLance T. Izumi, K. Lloyd Billingsley and Diallo DphrepaulezzPacific Research InstituteNovember 2002