National charter alliance unveils model charter school law
In June 2009, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) released A New Model Law For Supporting The Growth of High-Quality Public Charter Schools.
In June 2009, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) released A New Model Law For Supporting The Growth of High-Quality Public Charter Schools.
The banks of the Ohio river don't initially seem to be a hotbed of education reform.??
Very good Post editorial on saving the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. Eduwonk on getting new duds and contributing to a good cause.
Why do unsubstantiated remedies-like smaller class sizes-gain such traction in the world of education? Rather than adhering to rigorous research standards, we resort to sweeping generalizations and sentimental stories about children's lives. Not that there is anything wrong with sentiment.
Quotable "It was one area [where] we didn't do enough and failed our children. I give myself an 'F' on that one. As a city, as a state, as a country, we need to protect our children and have them be safe." --Arne Duncan, on the violence in Chicago's public schools.
Yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program.
Thomas Friedman wrote of golfer Tom Watson's run at this year's British Open,
Quotable "[That disproves] another myth - that private schools do not serve students with special needs." --Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation, discussing their recent report that seeks to dispel myths about private schools in North Carolina.
Though this Ed Week article is ostensibly about the Department's desire to expand the list of districts eligible to apply for the $650 million innovation grant program, it includes a much more news-worthy and troubling story line.
If you're interested in the replication of great schools--one of the key innovations of the charter mechanism--check out this informative paper by the folks at the Center on Educational Governance.
As both Russo and Politics K-12 reported, Mary Ellen McGuire is apparently headed to the White House to work for the Domestic Policy Council on education. This has me a bit curious.
Bill Jackson is the founder and CEO of GreatSchools, an independent, nonprofit organization that improves education by inspiring parents to get involved.
Quotable "It's encouraging that even before a penny has been doled out, this aggressive stance is forcing states to rethink traditional approaches to education." --Washington Post editorial, describing Obama's demands for accountability and an increase in charter schools.
Naomi Chudowsky and Victor ChudowskyCenter on Education PolicyJuly 2009
Government Accountability OfficeJune 2009
Detroit's schools are in a pickle and state-appointed emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is ready to extricate them from the brine.
President Obama's attention to high school dropout rates has brought an already-contentious issue to the national scene. The U.S. can hardly be expected to compete in a global economy with so many of its young people failing to make it to and through their senior years, or so the argument goes.
It appears increasingly likely that President Obama and Secretary Duncan are at risk of doing to charter schooling, merit pay, and school "turnarounds" what the Bush administration did to educational accountability. That's not meant as a compliment.
Violent video games are no new addition to the world of electronic entertainment; it seems hardly a jump, skip, or hop, then, to find iPhone apps with those same violent tendencies. But not all material is acceptable for target practice. RetardedArts, developer of the iPhone app "Zombie School," was a bit slow on this realization.
Gadfly would be the first to admit he's gotten his wings a bit sticky over at Flypaper; the best blogging is provocative, which sometimes provokes angry reactions. Michele Kerr, a recent graduate of the Stanford Teacher Education Program, learned that lesson the hard way.
Gadfly couldn't be more pleased that Hunter College ed school dean David Steiner will be moving to Albany in October as the new New York state education commissioner. Steiner brings ample reform credentials to the table.
This paper aims to promote a clearer understanding of the graduation-rate debate by distilling the policy developments and controversy surrounding the measurement of these rate. Why are there so many different ways to calculate graduation rates? How do these different rates account for the multiple pathways to graduation? What are the data sources used in the various dropout-rate calculations, and what are their pros and cons?
Graduation rates. We all know that defining and measuring them has been the source of much contentious discussion in recent years.
National Governor's Association, Center for Best PracticesMay 2009Teacher quality has been a major topic in Ohio politics of late. One of the latest installments of Gov. Ted Strickland's Conversations on Education video series features Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut speaking about teacher quality provisions within the governor's proposed education plan.
Center for American Progress, with author Joan Baratz-Snowden from the Education Study CenterJune 2009
Center for American Progress, American Enterprise Institute, New Profit Inc., and Public ImpactMay 2009