quotable and notable
?Without that, it doesn't really matter how much you spend on the car you are likely to crash.? ? Bret Schundler, New Jersey Education Commissioner, on appropriate student data tracking systems
MD and RTT
Maryland's Race to the Top application fails to garner the support of nearly all of the state's unions and a number of districts, including its largest LEA, Montgomery County.
Recent charter school stories clear signal for better accountability
A recent flurry of news about Ohio charter schools makes a strong case for clearer lines of charter school accountability in the Buckeye State.
States factor in teachers' performance
Last Saturday, the Columbus Dispatch ran an op-ed by Fordham Institute policy and research analyst Jamie Davies O’Leary about the growing trend of states incorporating teacher performance into evaluations.
Get a jumpstart on college
Ohio offers multiple options for high-school students to earn free college credit, but these pathways remain a mystery to most families and high schoolers. KidsOhio, School Choice Ohio, and the Columbus Urban League have teamed up to produce a simple, informative brochure to help students and their families understand their options for “jumpstarting” their college careers.
Can the school-choice genie be put back into the bottle?
Emmy L. PartinIs school choice a genie you can put back into the bottle? The Dayton Public School District wants to try.
Charter School Funding: Inequity Persists -- a must-read report
From Ball State University comes the latest report, Charter School Funding: Inequity Persists, which measures the extent to which states demonstrate funding fairness toward charter schools.
Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters
Terry M. MoeAnnie E. Casey FoundationMay 2010
NAEP reading results: Losing LeBron isn't Cleveland's biggest problem
Reading scores for Cleveland’s fourth and eighth graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress’s (NAEP) Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) aren’t much better than the
New Fordham report: Needles in a Haystack
Nobody is satisfied with the academic performance of the schools serving Ohio's poor, urban youngsters ? and nobody should be. In the 2008-09 school year, almost half of the quarter million students in the state's ?Big 8? cities attended schools rated ?D? or ?F? by the state.
Charter Funding Still Unfair
There's an important new report out today confirming what Fordham first helped unearth in 2005, and what charter school supporters and leaders have long known: public charters receive less funding than do district schools, by a wide margin
quotable and notable
?I'm not anti-union; I'm not anti-teacher. I'm anti-our-children-not-getting-a-good-education.? ? Kevin Johnson, Mayor of Sacramento
Thanks for having me
This summer, I'm heading north to Trenton to become the Deputy Commissioner of Education for the state of New Jersey.?Though I'm sad to leave my home state of Maryland and the DC ed reform co
Massachusetts madness
Michael J. PetrilliIf you wanted to dream up an example of the ill consequence of ?one size fits all? federal policy, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Arne Duncan and company's treatment of Massachusetts right now.
education news nuggets
At the college level, transparency may not always be a good thing. At the national level, there are 10 problems edu-preneurs must solve.
quotable and notable
?We do a disservice to children when we shield them from the truth, just because some people think it is painful or doesn't fit with their particular views.? ? Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education
States factor in teachers' performance
Jamie Davies O'Leary, Emmy L. PartinHere in Ohio, where the state has avoided even some of the least controversial reforms related to teacher evaluation and pay, Emmy and I have noted plenty of other districts and states taking bold action. ?We wrote an op-ed about this very topic, highlighting four such examples: D.C.
Eduwonk and charters
Eduwonk has a very good post on the NYT article on charters from this weekend. His take is worth the read.
NCTQ research competition: deadline extended
Stafford PalmieriWe announced a few weeks ago in Gadfly that the National Council on Teacher Quality had opened up the second year of their bi-annual research competition.
PEPG conference on merit pay
In two weeks, Harvard's excellent Program on Education Policy and Governance is hosting a conference on performance pay for teachers.
RTT math
In a previous post, I discussed the probability that Secretary Duncan will have reason to forgo spending down the remaining Race to the Top funding and send money back to the Treasury.
Forbes on data and schools
Make sure to check out the excellent Forbes article on the nation's best charters, forward-thinking districts, and the use of data. Lots of name-checking of ed reforms biggest stars, like Achievement First, Wireless Generation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the Gates Foundation, New York City Public Schools, and more.
Losing LeBron isn't Cleveland's biggest problem
Jamie Davies O'LearyReading results from NAEP's Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) have been released, and the news for Cleveland fourth and eighth graders isn't much better than when
Tom Loveless: Accountability systems appear to close achievement gaps
Michael J. PetrilliBelow is a comment from Tom Loveless, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, about my post from yesterday showing big declines for top U.S. students on the PISA math test from 2003-2006.
Schools with big achievement gaps: Civil rights failures?or successes?
Michael J. PetrilliTry this thought experience. Picture an urban school in California (let's call it ?Malcolm X?) with one of the largest achievement gaps in the state?a whopping 44 percentage point difference between whites and blacks.
LAUSD: School reform mecca?
Michael J. PetrilliInterpreting NAEP results is always an exercise in creativity, but how on Earth can you explain Los Angeles? We just learned that it's one of just two districts in the NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment program that posted gains in reading in 4th and 8th grades from 2002 to 2009.
Tom Loveless: Accountability systems appear to close achievement gaps
Michael J. PetrilliBelow is a comment from Tom Loveless, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, about my post from yesterday showing big declines for top U.S.
Needle in a Haystack: King Elementary
King Elementary in Akron has a long tradition of academic excellence, delivering impressive results and outscoring the district by margins of up to 28 percentage points on state tests.?It's no wonder that about 45% of students enroll here from across the district through open-enrollment. Check out our video to see some of the school's