Do Ohio's schools deliver "what parents want"?
Aaron ChurchillSupply meets demand in Ohio's schooling marketplace.
Don’t oversleep! Duncan and Petrilli make it to the Diane Rehm Show
Michelle LernerIf you missed “A Back-To-School Conversation About Education” on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show with education secretary Arne Duncan and a panel of experts (including our own Mike Petrilli), here are the key takeaways:
Voucher opponents shouldn’t be rooting for a Holder victory in Louisiana
Michael BrickmanEric Holder's Justice Department recently announced it would not target states that had chosen to legalize marijuana due to its "limited prosecutorial resources." The Obama presidency has shown us that "insufficient funds" is an exce
De Blasio is off the mark on pre-K
John HortonBehind the rise of Bill de Blasio in the race for New York City Mayor is his proposal to raise taxes (mainly on the rich) to pay for universal pre-K throughout the city.
Netflix Academy: 10 best dinosaur videos available for streaming
Michael J. PetrilliI love the dinosaur stage. Love, love, love. And when your child is ready to graduate from Dinosaur Train and take in some lifelike depictions of prehistoric monsters, this is where to start.
Indiana AG sets a precedent on school choice others should follow
Adam EmersonIndiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller recently published an opinion that should be good news for school-choice advocates who favor customized education for low-income students
Governance Matters
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Through examples of how other lands organize their education systems, Amanda Ripley's fine new book reminds us that governance matters
The misuse of Common Core tests
E. D. Hirsch, Jr.Why I’m for the Common Core but Against Teacher Bashing and Misuse of Tests; part three of three posts
Suspicious motives
The Education GadflyThe Washington Post (and many others) roundly
Next-generation science and college readiness
Lawrence S. Lerner, Paul GrossThe recently released Appendix C, intended to clarify key choices made by writers of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), addresses College and Career Readiness. It is lengthy and rich in self-praise and in repetition of claims made earlier in the evolution of the NGSS and their initiating Framework.
Common Core can reduce teacher bashing
E. D. Hirsch, Jr.For many years, my son Ted has been principal of the elementary grades of a K–12 public charter school in Massachusetts. It uses the Core Knowledge Sequence (a grade-by-grade outline of essential content) as a primary tool for developing its curriculum.
Getting Back to the Head Nod on Common Standards
For the broader public, the idea that reading and math standards should be the same across the country is so sensible that to make the case for the Common Core, you sometimes first have to explain that common standards don’t already exist.
Some late summer reads
If you’re itching for some edu-reading over the long weekend (what else would you do while grilling?), here are some suggestions.
The civil-rights fight today for one leader
Adam EmersonIt has always puzzled me why the Rev. H.K. Matthews hasn’t drawn more attention for his support for private school choice. His name may not carry the weight of King, Randolph, or Rustin, but it’s doubtful that the civil-rights movement would have quickened in Florida at the pace it did without the sacrifices Matthews made.
By the Company It Keeps: Joanne Weiss
I’m a big admirer of Joanne Weiss. She recently left the U.S. Department of Education after a tremendously consequential tenure. Working behind the scenes—never seeking the limelight for herself—she had a hand in the most important federal education decisions over the last five years.
A sobering explanation for stalled racial progress, in one chart
Michael J. PetrilliToday’s commemoration of the March on Washington—including President Obama’s much-anticipated speech—will no doubt bring discussions of how far we’ve come in closing white/black divides—and how far we still have to go.
What parents want—and how policymakers can provide it
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Michael J. PetrilliThe dominant approach to public education for most of our nation’s history was for local districts to offer standard-issue schools, mainly neighborhood-based and essentially identical, that reflected some version of the community’s general preferences and values. Because those preferences differed somewhat from place to place, public schools differed somewhat, too.
Making children "mere creatures of the state"
Adam EmersonThe Justice Department may be the last major American institution that values racial integration for the sake of integration. Its lawyers have worked to encase aging federal school-desegregation orders in cast iron while families—both white and black—have sought more flexibility, quality schools, and choices as to where their children will attend.
Walton seeks an education-program officer
The Walton Family Foundation is on the lookout for a skilled, highly motivated, and entrepreneurial individual to be a Denver-based program officer for the foundation’s Systemic K–12 Education Reform Team. To learn more, visit its website.
Give the public what it wants: Customization
Adam EmersonCount me among the fans of school choice who looked favorably upon this year’s results of the Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup poll.
Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School
Julie Spencer-Robinson“No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources.” This is carved into a massive stone wall on the FDR memorial in Washington, but it could have been the preface to this slender, timely, punchy book by Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann. These authors make a persuasive case for improving the academic achievement of U.S.
Next Generation Science Standards Revisited
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Kathleen Porter-MageeCan you spell “C” as in “chemistry”?
Three pollsters walked into a school…
Michael BrickmanTriangulating a trifecta of survey results
Four reasons the new athletic league is good for D.C. Charters
John HortonThirteen months ago, I wrote about the hostility charter-school athletic teams faced across the nation as they sought an equal opportunity to compete against their peers.
On poverty, proficiency, and velocity
Richard J. WenningThe exchanges stemming from Mike Petrilli's recent op-ed and concerns about school-grading systems appear to reflect some confusion about poverty, performance, proficiency, and growth. Much of the prevailing discourse seems more focused on finding someone (or something
I'm from Wisconsin and I'm here to help
This is the first post by Michael Brickman, Fordham’s new national policy director. Until last week he was Governor Scott Walker’s education policy advisor. Follow him on Twitter at @BrickM or email him at [email protected].