Racial remix
It's too bad that Lucky Liam is spending a few days being a bon vivant in Montreal because it would have been fun to see his reaction to this story out of California.
It's too bad that Lucky Liam is spending a few days being a bon vivant in Montreal because it would have been fun to see his reaction to this story out of California.
We appreciate Eduwonk Andy's nice plug of our Catholic schools report, and agree with him that public funding shou
An article in yesterday's Washington Post reports on Grover Whitehurst's efforts as founding director of the Institute of Education Sciences to improve the quality and impact of education research.
The Washington Post editors turn in a nice defense of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program today. As they point out, it will be tough to get Congress to approve the $18 million set aside for the program, especially considering the fierce opposition of D.C.
In the Wall Street Journal, William McGurn picks up where Kathryn Jean Lopez left off , arguing that McCain could win African American votes from Obama (or Clinton) if he would take "this (school choice) campaign i
I can't comment with much authority on the legal details of the case, but if you're into ed policy surely it's worth knowing that "a federal judge has dismissed the last of four claims in Connecticut's challenge to the federal No Child Left Behind law."
The Associated Press reports: A Coffee County High School substitute teacher has been arrested in what police say appears to be a scheme to bilk money from students promised a trip to Disney World.
Senator Barack Obama appeared on Fox News Sunday and (among other things) spoke of his school reform bona fides. Chris Wallace asked him to name an issue where he'd be willing to buck the Democratic Party, and Obama pointed to education:
In his appearance yesterday on Fox News , Obama said that "I've been very clear about the fact... that we should be experimenting with charter schools." Actually, he hasn't been very clear about that fact, at least during this campaign.
If states and school districts based layoff decisions on merit, and not seniority, we wouldn't have to read about ridiculous situations like this.
While most Americans think per-pupil spending in public schools is lower than it really is, many new immigrants think Catholic school tuition is higher than it really is.
Congrats to Davida Gatlin, a member of our first class of Fordham Fellows, whose
Sunday's New York Times Magazine features an article on K-12 arts education. The piece sets out to refute Obama's evidently misleading claims that teaching the arts leads to improved student performance on standardized tests.
Checker writes about the twenty-fifth anniversary of A Nation at Risk in the Wall Street Journal and the Gadfly.
The upcoming issue of Education Next (which Fordham sponsors) reveals that "Almost 96 percent of the public underestimate either per-pupil spending in their districts or teacher salaries in their states." In fact, they vastly underestimate these figures:
Evidently Reverend Jeremiah Wright made some controversial statements about education and race last night. Over at The Corner, Byron York asks Checker for his take on the whole thing.
At The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez writes that we can help save our inner cities by saving faith-based schools.
In today's Wall Street Journal, Checker wishes A Nation at Risk a happy twenty-fifth.
Ed school professor Brad Olsen writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that "we don't much hear from, or about, teachers' experiences in--and perspectives on--what's happening in schools these days." Really???Just yesterday we published in The Gadfly
Eduwonkette flatters us. Unfortunately, Mike can't carry a tune, and he's just too damn honest to lip-sync.
Coby's latest spark--that students (or their parents) who rated their teachers online could provide useful feedback--is intriguing. He's right that such k-12 rating websites exist (see here) but haven't reached a critical mass of users.
Several people questioned my argument the other day that bad ideas tend to flow from higher education to our K-12 education system (e.g., here and here).
Science writer Jonah Lehrer on algebra: "Abstract concepts, untethered to experience, are never internalized by our neurons." Or are they?
The website RateMyProfessors.com has been the subject of much criticism as it has grown in popularity.
Left unspoken* at yesterday's White House summit on faith-based schools was whether the idea of religious charter schools has any merit. Of course, this is no surprise.
George Will has a nice column today on A Nation At Risk. He mentions Checker's book, too. Update: Mike says the column doesn't just mention Checker's book; it "summarizes it!" Let's compromise on "highlights."