Rhee's moment in TIME
It's hard not to root for Michelle Rhee, the butt-kicking, straight-talking, no-nonsense Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
It's hard not to root for Michelle Rhee, the butt-kicking, straight-talking, no-nonsense Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
In the debate Friday night, Barack Obama responded to John McCain's idea of freezing federal spending by arguing that "the problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel." Then, on Face th
Candidate Obama gave one heckuva speech in the Mile High City once upon a time; ask him to deliver another one as President Obama this coming June.
As a few smart guys predicted fifteen months ago, the budget crisis is putting serious pressure on teacher seniority as a
"Sol Stern offers a wise suggestion in this City Journal Online piece: create an independent agency in New York to verify student achievement results...." Read it here.
"Now that Sol Stern has completely ruffled the feathers of the 'whatever works' crowd, he's turned his sights to one of the most visible leaders of the 'what works' movement, Institute for Educational Sciences director Russ Whitehurst...." Read it here.
President Obama has selected federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the Supreme Court. Education Week's School Law blog has a nice quick summary of her background.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did the country a big favor yesterday by announcing his intention to freeze the salaries of all of his teachers and administrators–and in one fell swoop eliminate the need to lay off any instructors.
President Barack Obama's "first 100 days" come to an end today, as you may have noticed from the barrage of fawning press coverage (not all of it on the editorial
I'm currently on the Amtrak back from Philly, where I spoke before the education committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures. I decided to be provocative, purposely trying to raise their blood pressure a bit. And I knew my talk wouldn't be popular. But you know the old adage about knowing your audience?
That's what it's starting to look like, at least if the rumors swirling around Washington have any merit.
Get out that trusty Reform-o-Meter because Team Obama is finally showing some heat.
For two weeks now I’ve been meaning to write about this provocative Washington Post column by Montgomery County (MD) school board member Laura Berthiaume.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a New York City community development group, seeks a director to get its new Educational Facilities Finance Center off the ground. Duties include public policy work, project financing, training, consulting, fundraising and management. Candidates should be self-starters with expertise in education policy and financing; master's degree preferred.
We’ve been covering the Los Angeles school-outsourcing plan for a while and it’s no surprise that teachers are among the groups vying for control of various schools.
This week, Mike and NCTQ President Kate Walsh chat about Obama, Edwards, and Bloomberg. Kate tells us all about her organization's recently released Yearbook, and Education News of the Weird is a Turkish delight.
In case you missed Tuesday's conference on international lessons about national standards, you can watch the keynote speech by Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement, here.
In reading Liam’s post about idealists being chewed up by the DC culture of inertia and status quo I couldn’t help but think of the brilliant Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” For any earnest school reformer this quote
Gadfly congratulates The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching on its perspicacity and judgment in naming Fordham prize winner Anthony Bryk to succeed Lee Schulman as president of that century-old organization.
Three cheers for KIPP, which received $65 million to create 42 schools in Houston. Read more about it here.
They're out of favor but not out of ideas--the GOP, that is. Want to know what they're thinking?
It's not too late to RSVP for our much anticipated April 27 Great Debate: "Resolved: What should Republicans seek in education (with a focus on the federal role)?" Our panelists include three Congressmen who can shed some light on this important (but perhaps neglected) issue: Representative Mike Castle (R-DE) and Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jim DeMint (R-SC).
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is looking for a chief operating officer. Learn more about the position here.
The Core Knowledge Foundation is seeking a director of educational materials to supervise the development of high-quality educational materials to promote and support the teaching of the Core Knowledge PreK-8 curriculum. For more details, click here.
If you missed our Beyond the Basics conference, or just want to learn more about the value of teaching the liberal arts, then check out Championing the Case for a Rigorous Liberal Arts Curriculum for All Children on Thursday, February 22, 2007, 1:00 p.m.
Craig Kennedy, the president of the German Marshall Fund, and a Fordham trustee, is interviewed in the January/February issue of Philanthropy Magazine. It's mostly about foreign policy and it's a terrific exchange. Check it out here.
Washington-area education reformers ought not let October 14th pass by without attending the Progressive Policy Institute's Charter School Funding Gap forum. Starting at 9:30 am (breakfast will be served), the event features a glittering panel including Bryan C. Hassel, co-author of the Fordham Institute report, Charter School Funding: Inequity's Next Frontier.
Like every state, Ohio has been hard hit by the Great Recession. It has been well chronicled (see article below) that the state’s current $50.5 billion biennial budget was made whole in 2009 by one-time federal stimulus dollars, billions in budget cuts, and clever accounting maneuvers. It is estimated that the state will face an $8 billion deficit in its next two-year budget.
Do you believe that data can make a difference in education reform? The Strategic Data Project Fellowship at Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research is a unique opportunity to use your analytic, leadership, and education sector experience to change the way leaders in education make decisions about teaching and learning.