This Week's Fordham Factor: Reading First
Amber and Christina discuss the good and bad of the Reading First interim evaluation report: httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=KCgR_VC2KTk
Reading First, miracle worker
Michael J. PetrilliWhile Americans feel no particular love for the U.S. Department of Education (see this graphic from Sunday's New York Times Magazine), I have found that, in education circles at least, particular scorn is heaped??upon state departments of education and their civil service employees.
From the op-ed pages
The Wall Street Journal reviews Mark Bauerlein's new book, The Dumbest Generation, and Marion Barry defends vouchers for D.C.
The dog that doesn't bark--or bite
Michael J. Petrilli"No Child Left Behind Lacks Bite." This is not exactly news to Flypaper readers, but it's great that the Wall Street Journal is spreading the word:
Willful blindness at Quick and the Ed
Flypaper does not relish the role of policing The Quick and the Ed, but that blog's latest item simply demands rebutting.
Crack in the voucher movement
Michael J. PetrilliParental choice advocates might think that Sol Stern's critique of school vouchers has harmed the cause, but surely
Teaching: Just as screwed up as sports
Malcolm Gladwell, kicking-off last week's New Yorker Conference, spoke about the mismatch problem--i.e., the hiring of people based on qualities or characteristics that have little or nothing to do with what delivers success in the position being filled.
The dental hygiene gap
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Today at a big wing-ding on federal education research sponsored by Education Sector and several other groups , former Deputy Secretary of Education Marshall (Mike) Smith agreed that it was probably a mistake to have carved the Education Department (ED) out of the old Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
A thought-provoking analogy
Coby LoupMegan McArdle reflects thoughtfully on teachers unions today at Atlantic.com. I found this bit especially interesting:
Quizzing for reading data
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.I started my career teaching British, American, and world literature to high school kids.
Social promotion exposed
Standards and accountability hawks (Fordham??swirls among them) have never adequately explained how top-down accountability systems avoid situations such as this. After an exhaustive investigation of Tucson's schools, the Arizona Daily Star reports:
Memo to the AERA: Breaking up with Bill Ayers isn't hard to do
Michael J. PetrilliAnyone who's been following politics lately knows that Senator Barack Obama's relationship with unrepentant bomber and former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers has become a matter of debate in the 2008 campaign.
In defense of education
Michael J. PetrilliYou might not agree with this column's political bent, but Stanley Crouch is right to blast away at anti-intellectualism in American life:
Soft bigotry further hardens
We know that the best schools "sweat the small stuff"; they do not overlook untucked shirts, they do not permit poor posture, they do not deign to??hold different students??to different standards of discipline.
Sagging state standards
Michael J. PetrilliRick Hess and Paul Peterson's annual look at state proficiency standards is out in the latest issu
Hot off the press
The newest issue of Education Next is now on newsstands--or on the internet, at least. Check out Mike's piece, which is a unique look at how the editorial boards of major newspapers present charter schools and No Child Left Behind.
Put down the Xbox and pick up a ball
Eric OsbergI was especially disappointed Saturday morning when my two-year-old daughter's "sports class" was canceled because I had just read in T
The big one
Michael J. PetrilliTO: [email protected] FROM: [email protected] SUBJECT: The Big One Roy! Guv-nor! How's it going? Eli driving you crazy yet?
Charter schools in The Economist
Two articles about charter schools in this week's Economist are online here (Chicago) and here (New York).
Carey strikes back
Kevin Carey mercifully closes our debate, not by addressing ideas but by instead calling my specific impugning of unions "vague" and concluding that I suffer from an incurable anti-union ailment. (Alas, my doctor prescribed Zithromax, but it hasn't worked.)
Keep this bad idea in New York
Michael J. PetrilliJohn Merrow, writing in today's Wall Street Journal, explains that "public education lives in an upside-down universe where student out