Recognizing Agassi
The U.S. Open starts on Monday and the opening ceremony will have a special guest: Andre Agassi.
The U.S. Open starts on Monday and the opening ceremony will have a special guest: Andre Agassi.
I'm just as outraged as Jamie about the general American populace's ignorance about charters... but I can't say I'm surprised. Take for example this survey of federal spending from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Here are just a few recent pieces where Fordham experts share their thoughts and insights....
I'm not a particularly opinionated blogger, but when I ran across this NPR article, I just had to say something. The piece is about my absolutely favorite television show when I was a small child: Reading Rainbow.
Here's an interesting piece about how the federal Race to the Top money may be impacting states. Apparently, Gov.
This past week was the first official week of classes at Columbus Collegiate Academy, a charter school sponsored by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Ohio. CCA students notched gains on reading and math proficiency exams last year and everyone's ready for another excellent, energizing academic year.
Whether the United States should embrace national standards and tests is perhaps today's hottest education issue. For guidance in addressing it, this report looks beyond our borders. How have other countries navigated these turbid waters? What can we learn from them? Expert analysts examined national standards and testing in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore and South Korea.
Our new report, International Lessons about National Standards, authored by William Schmidt, Richard Houang, and Sharif Shakrani of Michigan State University, is out today.
Recently, Mike Petrilli shared his thoughts on year-round school with folks at NBC. But apparently they liked Mike so much that they also posted a full 2-minute version of his interview, which you can watch below! Check out both of these great clips.....
The following is a guest post from Fordham Staff Assistant Mickey Muldoon.
Theodore Hershberg and Claire Robertson-Kraft, eds.Harvard Education PressAugust 2009
Albert Einstein once remarked that "Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work." He and Jonathan Keiler, a social studies teacher from Prince George's County Maryland, would get along swimmingly. This week, Jay Mathews narrates the story of Keiler's attempt to get his entitled pay upgrade.
Like comets, elections, Olympics, and the moon, education policy ideas come and go in cycles. Consider America's on-again, off-again enthusiasm for national standards and tests. Way back in 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower called for "national goals" in education, including "standards." A decade later, President Richard M.
Andrew Porter, Morgan Polikoff, and John SmithsonEducational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSeptember 2009
E.D. Hirsch, Jr.Yale University PressAugust 2009
It's once in a blue moon that an erratum calls for its own erratum; the moon tonight will surely be a lovely shade of aqua.
The College Board, as always, hung a smiley face on it, but the latest SAT results are a real bummer.
Los Angeles must have Folgers in its cup this week, finally waking up to the woeful state of that city's schools. On Tuesday, the LAUSD board passed a resolution that would open 50 new and 200 underperforming schools to external operators.
Two weeks ago, we reported that Florida was going to stop awarding regular four-year diplomas to students who graduate through its GED Exit Option program. But the announcement came through garbled; administrators, parents, and teachers believed the GED EX OP program was simply being abolished.
"Who's The Boss" of sophomore English at Northeast High this year? That'd be Tony Danza, he of boxing and 70s-sitcom fame. He was recently approved to teach in that Philly school as part of a new A&E series, Teach. Move over Jon & Kate Plus 8, it's Tony Danza... Plus 30.
Remember that first scary day of kindergarten? A five-year-old in Van Buren, Arkansas came up with an ingenious way to calm his butterflies: Skip right to first grade. Was this self-social promotion? A gifted student testing into first-grade honors? Nope, just a story of friendship--or peer pressure, if you're cynical.
Late last Friday, when it would attract little or no news coverage, the National Education Association offered its detailed feedback on Arne Duncan's "Race to the Top" plans. 26 pages worth.
More than anyone else who comes to mind in American public life, Edward M. Kennedy ascended from reprobate to icon, from??an object of criticism, even ridicule, to??statesman. He made many lasting marks on??our policies and politics and just about everyone came??to admire and like him. Generations of devoted and able staffers. Fellow??Senators and Presidents of both parties.
Yesterday was the first day of school in our nation's capital and only 37,000 students showed up for the big day.
The College Board, as always, hung a smiley face on it, but the latest SAT results are a real bummer.??Overall scores flat or down. Almost every sub-group flat or down. Gaps widening a bit by race, income, parental education.
Checker Finn answers this question in the latest National Journal Education Experts blog :
I finally had a chance to take a look at The New Teacher Project's brief overview of the Race to the Top application, which, among other things, handicaps the states' chances at winning the money. (The key analysis is shown below.)
FUN FACT FRIDAY! You wait all week... and you won't be disappointed. In our FINAL Fun Fact Friday video, we use data from a recent Fordham report, The Accountability Illusion, to show you how some states set the bar high for their students--and some don't. Watch our Play-Doh men do the Twizzler high jump in this first ever education track meet.