Coping with Teacher Shortages
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Patrick Murphy and Erin Novak, Annie E. Casey Foundation2002
The Politics of School-Based Management: Understanding the Process of Devolving Authority in Urban School Districts
Kelly ScottElaine M. Walker, Education Policy Analysis ArchivesAugust 4, 2002
Race in American Public Schools: Rapidly Resegregating School Districts
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Erica Frankenberg and Chungmei Lee, The Civil Rights Project, Harvard UniversityAugust 2002
The liberal case for privatization
Harvard Law School professor Martha Minow is ambivalent about the Supreme Court's decision in Zelman, but she has come to believe that the left's opposition to the privatization of social services is simplistic.
Paige makes teacher-ed hive buzz
Chester E. Finn, Jr.In June, Education Secretary Rod Paige issued an important report, the first "Secretary's Annual Report on Teacher Quality." What a splendid fuss it has kicked up-and hurrah for Paige for standing his ground.Entitled "Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge" (and previously noted by the Gadfly at http://www.edexc
Showdowns over vouchers in state courts
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Zelman that the Cleveland voucher program does not offend the First Amendment, The Christian Science Monitor reports that state legislatures in California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kansas, Minnesota, and Maine will introduce voucher legislation this year.
Choice is not a magic bullet, researchers argue
In an article in this summer's Harvard Educational Review, Dan Goldhaber and Eric Eide summarize research on the impact of school choice on minority students in urban settings. They write that relatively little evidence exists that school choice is having a clear-cut impact, and conclude that the mixed results suggest that choice alone will not transform urban school systems.
Contract awarded for "What Works" Clearinghouse
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded an $18.5 million contract to develop a national What Works Clearinghouse to summarize and disseminate evidence on the effectiveness of various education interventions.
Effectiveness of class size reforms hinges on student misbehavior
The larger a class is, the more student misbehavior reduces teaching effectiveness, suggests research by Edward Lazear, published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
A blueprint for reforming California's schools
The Pacific Research Institute has issued a brief guide to improving public education in the Golden State. The mini-report advocates 10 commonsensical but hard-to-implement reforms including: providing a school-choice accountability option, adopting value-added testing, introducing merit/ differential pay and testing for teachers, and ensuring the use of proven teaching methods and curricula.