Beating the Odds IV: A City-by-City Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments
Kathleen Porter-MageeMichael Casserly, Council of the Great City SchoolsMarch 2004
Ending Social Promotion: The Response of Teachers and Students
Eric OsbergConsortium on Chicago School ResearchFebruary 2004
The discipline paradox
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Just about everyone - principals, parents, students, the general public - knows that many U.S. schools have a discipline problem, that kids are often out of control, not to mention rude, inattentive, and sometimes violent. Nearly every survey of problems facing U.S. schools puts discipline near the top of the list.
Homeschooling comes of age, and under fire
Homeschooling - once considered the education option of choice for gun-toting religious fanatics or a haven for social misfits - is coming of age as home-schooled students begin to find themselves welcomed at prestigious colleges and universities. It's hardly surprising that many homeschooled students, who get personalized attention in a nurturing educational environment, are doing well.
Buy a degree, get a raise
Two months ago, Georgia's Professional Standards Commission (PSC) - the committee that is responsible for "certification, preparation, and conduct of certified, licensed, or permitted personnel employed in the public schools of the State of Georgia" - quietly launched an investigation into "diploma mill" teachers.
Control for cash a bad deal
In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the board of education, with decidedly mixed results so far (see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=140#1730).
Violence, mismanagement, and apathy in D.C.
Evidence that D.C. Public Schools are in crisis is not hard to come by.
Working out the details in Denver
In any reform of anything, the devil is always in the details. And the Old Deceiver lurks still in the fine print of the pay-for-performance plan approved last week by Denver teachers. How realistic is a plan that won't fully take effect for another eight years? How will the inevitable tension between teachers on the old tenure-based system and teachers on the new plan be resolved?