No Child Left Behind and Rural Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.National Association of State Boards of Education2004
ECS Report to the Nation: State Implementation of No Child Left Behind
Kathleen Porter-MageeEducation Commission of the StatesJuly 2004
The Times gives charters a chance!
The Los Angeles Times, anyway. After the recent charter school dustup, we're happy to recommend a column on charters that strikes a good balance and gets the facts - even those that are painful for charter school proponents - right.
Everybody's above average
"Eighty-three percent of Michigan elementary and middle schools that failed federal achievement standards for at least four years . . . gave themselves As on self-evaluations worth a third of their overall grades" on a statewide assessment system designed to give parents more information about schools, reports the Detroit News.
Faith without works
Andrew J. RotherhamEditor's note: As Democrats gathered in Boston to nominate John Kerry, Gadfly critiqued the Democratic education platform (see Napping 'til November).
Jumping the gun on voucher pronouncements
Even in a world awash in spin, we have to scratch our heads at the wildly conflicting storylines developing about the D.C. voucher program. In the Washington Times, vouchers are celebrated as a tremendous success, with demand far exceeding supply, especially in the middle and high school grades.
Linking teacher training and student achievement
The Louisiana Board of Regents recently completed a yearlong pilot study that has the potential to shake up the way the state rates its teacher training programs.
Mid-course corrections for NCLB
This month's Phi Delta Kappan has an article penned by American Enterprise Institute education policy studies director Fredrick Hess and Gadfly's own Checker Finn that looks at the implementation of NCLB's choice provisions with an eye toward whether they are being "conscientiously and constructively implement